Not an Anniversary to Celebrate: 44 Years of the Hyde Amendment
What is the Hyde Amendment? The Hyde Amendment is an annual amendment to the federal budget which bans Medicaid from covering abortion for people who rely on the health program to access health care.
The Hyde Amendment harms low-income people specifically, disproportionately affecting people of color, young people, transgender and non-binary people who are most likely to be poor, lack health insurance, and face other barriers to health care access.
This means that one in four poor pregnant people seeking an abortion are forced to give birth.
When a person wants to get an abortion but is denied, they are more likely to fall deeper into poverty.
The ban is part of the yearly Congressional appropriation legislation and has been renewed every year since Henry Hyde introduced it as a rider in 1976. Henry Hyde made his intentions clear when he first introduced the amendment: “I certainly would like to prevent, if I could legally, anybody having an abortion, a rich woman, a middle-class woman, or a poor woman. Unfortunately, the only vehicle available is the … Medicaid bill.”
The Hyde Amendment directly interferes with our fundamental right to decide whether or when to become a parent. By denying coverage for abortion, but not other prenatal or maternal health care, the Hyde Amendment represents a deliberate government interference in personal health care decisions.
Be bold and repeal Hyde! This longstanding amendment has been a weapon of anti-abortion advocates to restrict our right to make decisions about our own bodies, and it continues to impact the people who are already most marginalized by our health care system.
Every person deserves the right to bodily autonomy and to make decisions about their own health care without government intervention. Safe, legal, and affordable abortion access is essential to achieving that vision. When you have the ability to decide if, when, and how you start a family, you’re able to plan better for your future and engage in your community.
Learn more about the abortion restrictions on the books in Minnesota at UnRestrictMN.