Press Release
NARAL Pro-Choice America Celebrates Reintroduction of EACH Act
For Immediate Release: Thursday, March 25, 2021
Contact: [email protected]
Washington, DC — Today, Representatives Barbara Lee (D-CA), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), Diana DeGette (D-CO), and Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) as well as Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Patty Murray (D-WA), and Mazie Hirono (D-HI) reintroduced the Equal Access to Abortion Coverage in Health Insurance (EACH) Act. The EACH Act guarantees coverage for abortion care without restrictions based on a person’s income, location, or insurance provider.
NARAL Pro-Choice America President Ilyse Hogue released the following statement in response:
“Discriminatory and racist bans on abortion coverage push needed care out of reach for women, pregnant people, and families—especially for Black, Indigenous, and people of color, transgender and non-binary people, and those struggling to make ends meet. Anti-choice politicians have pushed these cruel restrictions since Roe v. Wade recognized the right to abortion in order to decimate access to abortion care. These restrictions are a means of advancing anti-choice politicians’ sinister and sweeping agenda of power and control.
Congress must pass the EACH Act and end these harmful restrictions once and for all. Thanks to the reproductive justice movement’s dedication and leadership, Congress has the opportunity to bring us one step closer to a world where access to abortion care doesn’t depend on where you live, how you are insured, or how much money you have. Reproductive freedom is not a reality unless we all have the freedom to make decisions about our health and futures with dignity and without interference from politicians.”
The EACH Act, championed by the reproductive justice advocates at All* Above All, would ensure that federal health plans and programs cover and provide access to abortion care by lifting existing coverage bans for those who receive their health insurance through the federal government, including those insured through Medicaid and Medicare, federal employees, Indigenous communities, pregnant people who are incarcerated or in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, service members, and people with low incomes in the District of Columbia. The bill would also prohibit the federal government from interfering with the private insurance market to prevent insurance companies from providing abortion coverage.
###
For over 50 years, NARAL Pro-Choice America and its network of state affiliates and chapters have fought to protect and advance reproductive freedom—including access to abortion, contraception, and paid family leave—for every body. NARAL is powered by its more than 2.5 million members from every state and congressional district in the country, representing the 7 in 10 Americans who believe every person should have the freedom to make the best decision for themselves about if, when, and how to raise a family.