Press Release
NARAL Pro-Choice America Responds to Inclusion of Discriminatory Anti-Choice Amendment in House Democrats’ Spending Bill
For Immediate Release: July 07, 2020
Contact: [email protected]
WASHINGTON, DC — NARAL Pro-Choice America President Ilyse Hogue released the following statement in response to Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives including the discriminatory Hyde Amendment, an anti-choice policy restricting coverage for abortion care for those who receive their health insurance through the federal government, in the FY’ 21 Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill:
“Every day that the Hyde Amendment remains in place, it hurts women of color and women with low incomes just as it was intended to from the day Henry Hyde introduced it in 1976. It’s disappointing that, despite having a majority and the most pro-choice slate of elected officials ever serving in the U.S. House of Representatives, Democratic leadership has chosen to include a discriminatory abortion coverage ban in this year’s appropriations bill. The Hyde Amendment restricts access to abortion for those already facing the greatest hurdles to getting the time-sensitive and essential care they need. While we appreciate the spending bill’s inclusion of other pro-choice priorities, such as blocking the Trump administration’s dangerous refusal of care rule and its attempt to roll back nondiscrimination protections under Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, it isn’t enough.
As our country faces a public health crisis and a long-overdue uprising against entrenched white supremacy and structural racism, we must be more committed than ever to ending barriers to care like Hyde, which disproportionately affects communities of color and people with low incomes, so that every body is free to make their own personal decisions about pregnancy free from political interference.”
Restrictions on abortion care like the anti-choice Hyde Amendment endanger women and families already facing enormous hurdles to accessing care, especially Black and Brown women and those with low incomes. At a time when the freedoms enshrined by Roe v. Wade face unprecedented attack, the 2020 Democratic presidential field coalesced around the party’s core values—including ending the Hyde Amendment’s ban on abortion coverage once and for all.
We know that abortion is front and center for Democrats: Support for abortion rights is at an all-time high and polling confirms reproductive freedom is a major issue for Democratic voters in particular. These values are non-negotiable to the 77% of Americans who support the legal right to abortion in the United States.
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NARAL Pro-Choice America and its network of state affiliates and chapters are dedicated to protecting and expanding reproductive freedom for all. For more than 50 years, NARAL has worked to guarantee that every woman has the right to make personal decisions regarding the full range of reproductive choices, including preventing unintended pregnancy, bearing healthy children, and choosing legal abortion. Since 1969, NARAL has made history, grown to over 2.5 million members, and met the moments that have defined this fight with action, power, and freedom. In recognition of its work defending our constitutional right to choose, Fortune Magazine described NARAL as “one of the top 10 advocacy groups in America.”