Since 1995, Congress has prohibited the District of Columbia from using its own locally raised revenues for abortion services for low-income women, except in rare circumstances. This restriction directly usurps the rights of the local D.C. government and residents, and negatively affects the health and lives of low-income women in the District.  President Obama's FY'10 budget proposal recommended that this discriminatory restriction be lifted, and Congress followed suit, voting down anti-choice amendments that would have reinstated the ban.  In December 2009, both chambers passed bills that renewed funding for D.C. without reimposing the abortion ban, and President Obama signed this package into law on December 16, 2009.

P.L. 104-69; Jodi Jacobson, House Committee Votes to Allow DC to Fund Abortions for Low-Income Women; Bill Moves Soon to Full House Vote, RH Reality Check, Jul. 7, 2009, at http://www.rhrealitycheck.org (last visited Jul. 28, 2009); Henry Pulizzi, Obama Signs Omnibus Spending Bill Into Law, Wall Street Journal, Dec. 16, 2009.