Hyde Amendment: 30 Years of Injustice for Poor Women

October 9, 2006

October marks the 30th anniversary of the Hyde Amendment, the legislative doctrine used to control the reproductive lives and limit the health care options of poor women. Passed by Congress every year since 1976, the current version denies federal coverage for abortion, except in cases of incest, rape or life endangerment, but without any exception to preserve the woman's health.

The National Organization for Women fought the Hyde Amendment when it was introduced, and continues to do so, decrying the class-based system of health care that this amendment exacerbates. The Hyde Amendment routinely denies access to safe and legal abortion for women, disproportionately women of color, who depend on government health coverage.

According to NOW President Kim Gandy, "For 30 years, the Hyde Amendment has denied poor women their constitutional right to abortion as a health care option, and for 30 years it has marginalized abortion care instead of recognizing it as a safe, legal and vital part of all women's health care. Thirty years of this repression and discrimination have caused untold suffering and death; the Hyde Amendment must be repealed."

The Hyde Amendment denies federal funding for abortions that do not fit its narrow criteria, and places the financial burden on already-tight state Medicaid budgets, in effect encouraging states not to expand abortion coverage. Currently, more than half of the states provide no additional funding, according to the National Abortion Federation, which notes that only South Dakota provides less coverage than the Hyde Amendment, even refusing funding for abortion services in cases of incest and rape.

And, no matter how expansive or restrictive the state laws are, women seeking federal funding for pregnancy termination are often obstructed by misinformation and administrative barriers that prevent them from receiving timely access to the abortion procedure.

Hyde Policy is Counter-Productive, Harmful

Because it creates a barrier to women's access to abortion services, a right that women with financial means are able to utilize, the Hyde amendment is unjustly harmful to the health of poor and low-income women by burdening access to otherwise safe and legal medical procedures. The risk of complication increases the later an induced abortion is performed, so administrative delays imposed on women decrease the safety of abortion procedures by forcing women to wait until later in pregnancy to receive necessary funding.

Furthermore, women who cannot pay for abortion services may be forced to choose a self-induced or illegal, life-threatening abortion. For those low-income women who do not seek such desperate measures, the amendment effectively forces them to carry unwanted pregnancies to term. Since the amendment's enactment, the Guttmacher Institute has found that 20-35 percent of women eligible under Medicaid who would choose abortion have carried their pregnancies to term due to lack of personal financial means and the absence of state funding.

The right to reproductive health care necessitates that women have equal access to all care, including abortion, regardless of their economic means or the specific circumstances of their pregnancies. Since 12 million women of reproductive age are covered under Medicaid, the current Hyde Amendment compromises millions of women's right to abortion access and routinely puts their health and lives at risk.

Furthermore, the Amendment specifically targets women of low economic status, effectively blocking their Constitutional right to reproductive options and invading their privacy. As a result, the Amendment further politicizes abortion care, instead of recognizing it as a fundamental component of reproductive and family planning health care. In order to achieve complete reproductive equality that has been constitutionally guaranteed to all women for more than three decades, NOW urges that the Hyde Amendment be repealed.

Sources include: The National Abortion Federation (Medicaid and Hyde Amendment fact sheet) and the Protect Women, Protect Medicaid Campaign 9/15/2006 Action Alert.

NOW Public Policy Intern Marilu Gresens contributed to this article.