The Hyde Amendment prohibits federally funded insurance plans, including Medicaid, from covering abortion. This means that women faced with unwanted pregnancies must pay out of their own pockets, or give birth to children they cannot reasonably be expected to support.
The bill -- called the Equal Access to Abortion Coverage in Health Insurance Act, or EACH Woman Act -- would ensure abortion coverage for women enrolled in Medicaid, as well as federal government employees, military service members, volunteers with the Peace Corps and individuals insured via the Indian Health Service. In addition, the measure would bar state legislatures from enacting bans that prevent private insurers from covering abortion
We the undersigned ask that you support HR 2972, the EACH Woman Act. For far too long, the Hyde Amendment has forbidden federally funded insurance plans, including Medicaid, to cover abortions, meaning that women who cannot be reasonably expected to support another mouth to feed - or would then have to receive more public aid in the form of welfare and food stamps - have to either pay out of their own shallow pockets, or bring into the world another name for the public assistance rolls. Women have the right to decide whether and when to become mothers - and children have the right to be born into households that can be reasonably expected to support and care for them.
