Press Release
NARAL Pro-Choice America Applauds House Democrats for Reintroducing Bill to Ensure Abortion Coverage
Washington, DC — Today, House Democrats, led by Reps. Barbara Lee (D-CA), Diana DeGette (D-CO), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), and Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), introduced the Equal Access to Abortion Coverage in Health Insurance (EACH) Act, which guarantees insurance coverage for abortion care without restrictions based on a person’s income, location, or insurance provider. The critical bill has the support of a record number of members of Congress, with over 160 House Democrats joining as original cosponsors.
NARAL Pro-Choice America President Mini Timmaraju released the following statement in response:
“For too long, extremist politicians have weaponized the Hyde Amendment to make abortion out of reach to the communities who need care the most. Everybody deserves to be free to make their own decisions about their lives, bodies, and futures – no matter what kind of insurance they have. It’s past time for these discriminatory restrictions on abortion coverage to end. We thank Reps. Lee, DeGette, Schakowsky, Pressley, and our champions in Congress for their continued partnership and innovation. The goal is simple: Freedom for everybody. We won’t stop until we achieve it.”
The EACH Act, championed by 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 and care 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. Abortion coverage bans disproportionately harm those who already face barriers to accessing abortion care—including women; Black, Latina/x, Asian American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, and Indigenous people; those working to make ends meet; the LGBTQ+ community; immigrants; young people; those living in rural communities; people with disabilities, and other historically oppressed communities.
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For over 50 years, NARAL Pro-Choice America has fought to protect and advance reproductive freedom at the federal and state levels—including access to abortion care, birth control, pregnancy and post-partum care, and paid family leave—for every body. NARAL is powered by its 4 million members from every state and congressional district in the country, representing the 8 in 10 Americans who support legal abortion.