EACH Woman Act Would Repeal the Unjust Bans on Abortion Coverage in Medicaid
Washington – Leaders in Congress today introduced legislation to lift the onerous restrictions on abortion care for low income women and others impacted by unjust federal funding limitations. U.S. Reps. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) and Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) introduced the Equal Access to Abortion Coverage in Health Insurance (EACH Woman) Act, alongside the Pro-Choice Caucus Chairs Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) and Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) and 100 other members of Congress.
“The Hyde Amendment has been used for decades to deny women living on limited incomes access to quality health care services, because it bars their access to abortion care,” National Health Law Program (NHeLP) Reproductive Health Director Susan Berke Fogel said. “The EACH Woman Act seeks to end this injustice. No woman should be discriminated against in our health care system because of where she lives or how much money she has. Access to quality health care must include access to abortion care. This system of one health care system for the wealthy and another, far less adequate one, for all other women must end.”
NHeLP attorney Agata Pelka added, “Women’s rights to make health care decisions and family planning decisions are being impinged by the Hyde Amendment. The EACH Woman Act is meant to remedy this disparity. Women, not the government, have the right to determine when or whether to become parents. But the ban on abortion coverage in Medicaid has trampled this right for low-income women, and disproportionately for women of color. It’s long past time to right this injustice. All lawmakers should support a just health care system, and the EACH Woman Act.”
Please contact the NHeLP Communications department at [email protected] or 202-552-5176 for further comment regarding the Trump administration’s latest anti-immigrant executive order.
NHeLP, founded in 1969, advocates for the rights of low-income and underserved people to access quality health care.
