Campaign demands access to abortion for poor women

By Kris Hamel
Dec 20, 2007

Fighters for reproductive justice for poor women are stepping up their campaign to overturn the Hyde Amendment, a reactionary law enacted by Congress in 1976 and signed by Democratic President Jimmy Carter in 1977. The Hyde Amendment denies women on Medicaid the right to funding for abortions. It is named for its archreactionary sponsor, Henry Hyde, a former long-term Republican congressman from Illinois. President George W. Bush awarded Hyde the “Medal of Freedom” on Nov. 5 for his role in denying reproductive rights to low-income women. Hyde died on Nov. 29 at the age of 83.

Earlier this year the National Network of Abortion Funds launched the “Hyde—30 Years Is Enough!” campaign to repeal the anti-woman, anti-poor law. Activists had hoped that a Democratic-controlled Congress would respond to their initiative by introducing and passing legislation restoring Medicaid funding for women to choose abortion. The law is renewed yearly as part of federal budget appropriations. However, the struggle has been an uphill battle thus far.

The Hyde Amendment now includes limited funding by Medicaid for abortions for pregnancies caused by rape or incest and those which cause a woman’s life to be endangered. Medicaid used to cover more than one-third of all abortions for women in the U.S., but since 1977 it has paid for virtually none. Coverage for abortion is also denied to women military personnel and their dependents, women receiving Indian Health Service care, women on disability insurance and immigrant women.

African American Women Evolving, a reproductive rights organization which is part of the campaign, states that “Black women are three times as likely as white women to have an abortion and also represent a large percentage of women living under the poverty line. They must use already limited resources that would otherwise be used for basic living necessities to obtain an abortion. ... Denying ACCESS is discriminatory. The reality is that women with the least ACCESS to health care are those with the fewest economic resources who are disproportionately women of color. The right to have an abortion is a constitutional right, and rights can only be realized through ACCESS.” (http://www.aaweonline.org)

Access to medical care and the ability to pay for it, especially reproductive health care that includes abortion, is a major factor in women’s right to choose. More than 45 million people in the U.S. have no health insurance, and for those who do, one-quarter of them spend 10 percent of their income on medical costs not covered by their insurance. Without access and affordability, low-income women, women of color and young women are denied reproductive justice.

The “Hyde—30 Years Is Enough!” campaign, which includes hundreds of organizations, has launched a “Repeal Hyde” petition drive with the goal of 20,000 signatures to present to Congress on Jan. 22, 2008, the 35th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade, which legalized the right to abortion. In less than two months, more than 10,000 signatures have been obtained.

The petition outlines the fundamental unfairness of the amendment, including the fact that it “denies women access to a medical service simply because they are poor. Too often, low-income women are forced to use money meant for rent, utility bills, and food to pay for an abortion. Due to racial inequalities and the racial distribution of poverty, women of color and immigrant women disproportionately rely on Medicaid for their health insurance. Therefore, the Hyde Amendment especially burdens women of color and immigrant women.”

All progressive activists and organizations are being urged to circulate the petition to their e-mail lists to help the campaign reach its goal of 20,000 signatures by Jan. 22. Go to http://www.hyde30years.nnaf.org to sign the petition and to download a copy for Web sites and e-mail lists.