by Victoria, Pro-Choice North Carolina Campus Leader
A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to host my first event as Davidson College’s Campus Leader for Pro Choice North Carolina—I decided to call the tabling event "Yes to Pie, No to Hyde,” and it was hosted on September 30th, the anniversary of the Hyde Amendment.
The devastating amendment has been in place since its passing in 1976, and Congress continues to vote to uphold it. The Hyde Amendment essentially bars the use of any federal funding for abortion care, which mainly affects people who rely on government insurance (Medicaid, Medicare, etc.), federal employees, Indigenous people enrolled in Indigenous Healthcare Services, people with disabilities, people serving in the Peace Corps, military personnel and their dependents, veterans, and people of lower income.
This amendment is extremely discriminatory because it disproportionately affects People of Color, specifically Black, Indigenous, and Latina people. Due to systemic inequalities, these minorities are more likely to get paid less and therefore, are more likely to rely on government insurance for healthcare. It is absolutely abhorrent that abortion can’t be covered by government insurance, and honestly, I was surprised at the amount of people who didn’t know about the Hyde Amendment or what it does.
During my tabling I handed out informational fact sheets about the amendment, as well as distributed resources that described actions that everyone has the ability to take to help get this amendment revoked. I emphasized that because it is not permanent, we have the ability to fight to take this amendment down. The resource sheet I handed out had links to information on reps to contact and how, as well as a link to a list of articles, documents, and FAQs about the amendment so people could educate themselves and others. Of course, I also had pie for everyone who stopped by my table to learn and listen!
Overall this tabling event went super well. So many more people than I thought stopped by to learn, eat some pie, and grab some resources. We were at the entrance of our college’s student union, so even if people didn’t stop at the table, they still read our sign and walked by, which is also important exposure. I was so happy that I was able to do this tabling and spread the word about this destructive but not super widely known amendment and I hope to do more events like this in the future.
