The Hyde Amendment: Forty Years of Discrimination
“I would certainly like to prevent, if I could legally, anybody having an abortion: a rich woman, a middle class woman, or a poor woman. Unfortunately, the only vehicle available is the [Medicaid] bill,” former Rep. Henry Hyde, author of the Hyde Amendment
That’s a big reason why funds like the DC Abortion Fund exist.
The Hyde Amendment has banned federal Medicaid funding for abortion care since its inception in 1976. And it wasn’t until 1994 that exceptions were made for rape, incest, or life endangerment.
Abortion is the only medical procedure that is treated like this.
Sept. 30 marks the the 40th anniversary of the vote to pass the Hyde Amendment in Congress. Dubbed the grandfather of abortion restrictions, since its passage, it’s spawned similar restrictions on abortion coverage for government employees, Peace Corps volunteers, federal inmates, military personnel, Native Americans, federal prisoners, and those on D.C. Medicaid.
By barring federal funding, Hyde has a disproportionate impact on low-income people, women of color, young people, and people with disabilities, creating near insurmountable obstacles. Restricting Medicaid coverage of abortion forces 1 in 4 poor women to carry an unwanted pregnancy to term.
Thanks to the hard work of advocates like All* Above All and many others others, a new momentum is picking up in Congress. It’s a momentum to take bold action and end the Hyde Amendment.
The Hyde Amendment isn’t a law, it’s a rider attached to annual appropriations bills that are renewed every year, meaning that every year there is a chance to vote it down. It’s past time that happened.
According to research from the Guttmacher Institute and Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH), approximately the same number of women utilize abortion funds as they do private health insurance, suggesting that funds play an important role in financing abortions. This accords with our experience. When you consider that most people who seek abortion funding assistance are low-income, the Hyde Amendment becomes an even greater — and more nefarious — barrier to access.
Reducing access to abortion doesn’t reduce the need for abortions. It just makes it harder on those least able to pay for them. Every year that Hyde is renewed, it turns the most economically vulnerable into ideological pawns in a game they are destined to lose. We deserve better — as individuals and as a society — from our elected officials. Forty years of reproductive injustice is more than enough. It’s time to fund abortion like the health care service it is, and repeal Hyde once and for all.
On social media? Use the hashtag #BeBoldEndHyde to join the conversation. And if you’re feeling really motivated, snap a Hyde Selfie with you and a sign stating why you support access to abortion and include the hashtag when sharing it. You can tag us, too, with @dcabortionfund on Twitter and Instagram.
photo credit: NNAF
