Ipas > Abortion funding bans eliminate right to choose

Abortion funding bans eliminate right to choose

April 19, 2005

Even in the United States, the right to choose is an empty promise for the countless girls and women who cannot afford to access services.

Photo courtesy of Jez Coulson, Panos Pictures.

Across the globe, women’s ability to preserve their reproductive health and exercise their reproductive rights is determined largely by their financial circumstances. Even in the United States, where abortion has been protected by law since 1973, the right to choose is an empty promise for the countless girls and women who cannot afford to access services.

When abortion first became legal in the United States, the public Medicaid program covered abortion just as it covered other medical procedures. However, only three years later, Congress passed the Hyde Amendment, banning federal Medicaid funding for abortion. Today, 33 states have passed similar prohibitions on state funding for abortion.

A report recently released by the National Network of Abortion Funds (NNAF) illustrates the real cost of such abortion funding bans. Through case studies of selected grassroots abortion funds, Abortion Funding: A Matter of Justice shows the financial barriers women face as they struggle to carry out their reproductive decisions.

Many women who seek abortions are already mothers struggling to care for their existing children. Many have experienced violence or are living with illnesses that may be worsened by pregnancy. Many must use money meant for food, rent or utilities to pay for the abortion services and, in many cases, to cover the additional costs of traveling to another city or across state lines to the nearest clinic.

In many other cases, women simply cannot afford the services. As a result, they are forced to carry their pregnancies to term, often at the expense of their own health, their life opportunities and the well-being of their families.

The report also shows that additional barriers, such as mandatory waiting periods and the national shortage of abortion providers, most seriously affect those women who already have limited access to services, like women living in rural areas. One example is the recently passed Weldon Amendment, or Women’s Health Care Denial Law, that allows publicly funded institutions to refuse to provide abortion services and abortion referrals.

Those relying on the government for health care are disproportionately women of color, making abortion funding a matter of racial justice as well as economic justice and women’s rights. Also covered by federal health plans are women in the military and Peace Corps, federal employees, disabled women, residents of the District of Columbia, federal prisoners and women covered by the Indian Health Service.

The report makes recommendations for actions that Congress and state legislatures can take toward preventing unintended pregnancy and increasing women's access to affordable and timely abortion services, including:

Restoring full Medicaid funding for abortion;
Including abortion in all government health programs;
Repealing state laws that create needless and harmful delays;
Requiring all publicly funded health-care facilities to provide comprehensive reproductive-health services;
Increasing dissemination of accurate reproductive-health information;
Ensuring that emergency contraception is affordable and available over the counter.

NNAF was established in 1993 as a nationally coordinated response to harmful U.S. government restrictions on abortion funding. NNAF provides support to member funds and advocates on the national level for every woman’s right to abortion and full reproductive-health care, regardless of ability to pay. Member funds raise money to directly assist low-income women and girls seeking abortions and advocate for increased abortion access for those most in need.

For more information, contact:
Kirsten Sherk
Senior Associate, Media Relations
e-mail: sherkk@ipas.org
phone: 919.960.5612
fax: 919.929.0258