House of Representatives passes a bill that includes renewal of the Hyde Amendment

On Wednesday, the House of Representatives passed a spending bill that includes the renewal of the Hyde Amendment. The amendment denies the use of Medicaid funds for abortion care with only limited exceptions.

Although the majority of Americans believe the Supreme Court should uphold Roe v. Wade, they also think there should be some limitations on abortion. Most Americans oppose using federal funding for abortion care, as the Hyde Amendment effectively does.  

This majority, however, doesn’t reflect the wishes or needs of most low-income Americans who seek abortion care. The out-of-pocket cost for the procedure is more than one-third of the monthly incomes of over half of people who need it. A new study led by researchers at Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH) has shown that although just over one in four pregnant people eligible for Medicaid insurance in Louisiana considered abortion, 7.2 percent of them ended up giving birth because Medicaid wouldn’t pay for the procedure. Sarah Roberts, DrPH, Associate Professor at ANSIRH, and senior author of the study, believes that “denying public funding of abortion creates an insurmountable barrier for patients with lower incomes.” This research is backed by previous studies, like a longitudinal study launched in 2008 by researchers from the University of California, San Francisco UCSF that showed that women who can’t access legal abortion care are three times more likely than women who obtained abortions to fall into poverty.

Yamani Hernandez, executive director of the National Network of Abortion Funds, said in a statement that restrictive anti-abortion policies have created “a class-based gap in the reproductive health system that often cannot be bridged by people who are struggling to get by.” Although providing federal funding for abortion isn’t supported by the majority of Americans, Hernandez added that “ANSIRH’s study findings show we must repeal discriminatory abortion policies and demand abortion be fully covered by all health insurance, both public and private, to ensure everyone is free to decide if, when, and how to grow their families free from economic coercion.”

The House of Representatives decision to pass the legislation containing the Hyde Amendment notably came on the heels of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden denouncing his long-held support of the Hyde Amendment. After coming under pressure from progressives in the Democratic party like presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) as well as from national organizations like Planned Parenthood and NARAL, Biden stated that he could no longer stand behind an amendment that prevents abortion services to so many of the neediest of American women. Biden also maintains that he will continue to support the Hyde Amendment if access to abortion were available to women no matter if they had a low income.

No matter how presidential candidates choose to frame their stance on this issue, though, the facts remain the same: according to the Guttmacher Institute, millions of women across the country are still unable to access abortions, with women living in poverty and women of color being the demographics most left behind. Sixteen states have already developed workarounds for the Hyde Amendment by providing their own funding for medically necessary abortion care.

Hernandez believes that using federal funds for abortion “is a revolutionary act; one that the government must guarantee.” The renewal of the amendment, however, means that states currently providing funding to their constituents who seek abortion will need to continue covering these costs. In the 34 states that do not currently cover these costs, thousands of patients will be denied access to abortion simply because they cannot afford the procedure.