The National Health Law Program condemns the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which has eliminated access to abortion services for millions of people in the United States. In the decision, the Supreme Court held six to three that the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion, overturning precedent in Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey. Read our statement here and support our work.
Abortions are common health interventions. Approximately one in five people capable of getting pregnant will have an abortion by age 30, and one in four by age 45. Despite the undeniable need, federal restrictions such as the Hyde Amendment leave abortion care out of reach for many of the 13.5 million women of reproductive age (15 to 49 years old) enrolled in Medicaid in states that don’t use their own funding to cover abortions.*
Multiple studies indicate that the inability to afford abortion care places pregnant individuals further into poverty and harms their health as well as the wellbeing of their current and future children.
Many people lack the means and access to decide whether to continue a pregnancy. Limits on federal funding for abortions cause significant harm to low-income people, in particular communities of color, LGTBQ+ individuals, and residents of rural areas. Both states and the federal government enact legislation and policies that shape abortion access, including whether insurance will cover their abortions.
Abortion is health care. Period. The National Health Law Program works at every level to protect access to the full range of essential reproductive health services, including abortion, in Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplaces, and private insurance.
*The National Health Law Program occasionally uses the terms “women” or “woman” as well as other gendered language where the research data or laws cited use those specific terms. NHeLP recognizes that people of all genders, gender identities, and expressions require access to abortion and we have tried to otherwise limit our use of gendered language where possible.
