For years, Congress has blocked the Washington, D.C. government's ability to use locally raised funds to provide low-income women with access to safe, legal abortion care.

As recommended by President Obama (and NARAL Pro-Choice America), the House passed an appropriations bill with a provision that lifts this discriminatory ban. A Senate committee has also voted to lift the ban. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, the city's elected representative in Congress, supports this move. However, as the bill moves forward in the Senate, anti-choice senators will try to reinsert the ban.

Questions and Answers

Q: Why is congressional interference in D.C.'s local affairs so problematic?

A: No other jurisdiction or state is told by Congress how to use its locally raised funds. Anti-choice members of Congress were only able to put the ban in place 15 years ago because of D.C.'s special status and jurisdiction as the nation's capital.

Lifting this ban on the bill that allocates funds for D.C. gives the elected city leaders the ability to decide whether the District will use locally raised funds to ensure women have access to the full range of reproductive-health options, including safe, legal abortion. Removing this abortion ban means Congress has to accept and honor the decision D.C. leaders make.

Q: What is the real-world effect of this ban on low-income women who reside in D.C.?

A: As the D.C. Abortion Fund can attest, this ban's effect on women is devastating. Women have had to sell their cars, get high-interest predatory loans (not even an option anymore), pawn wedding rings or other jewelry, sell their children's toys, and go without electricity, or even risk eviction—all to pay for the abortion care they need.

Read many more heart-breaking stories about what can happen when access to affordable reproductive health care is out of reach for women.

Q: Where is this bill now? What are the next steps?

A: The U.S. House of Representatives has voted to repeal the ban. The full Senate must still vote on the bill.

We are working with Rep. Holmes Norton and other pro-choice leaders to fight any additional anti-choice attempts to reinsert the D.C. abortion ban into the Senate version of the bill.

Q: How can I help?

A: Tell your senators to oppose any attempts to extend the ban!