Crucial Conversations: An Economic Injustice – Using Abortion Coverage Bans to Limit Access

The Hyde Amendment was first introduced by an anti-abortion Congressman in 1976 as a way to explicitly bar low-income people from accessing abortion care, and it’s been a provision tacked onto the federal budget ever since. For 41 years, legal and safe abortion has been the only type of health care stigmatized and politically targeted in this way.

And for 41 years, the tentacles of the Hyde Amendment have grown – in North Carolina in 2018, no federal, state, county or local government employees can obtain coverage for abortion care through their employee benefits; and NC residents that access their health care through the military, Indian Health Services or the United State Peace Corps volunteer program cannot have an abortion covered through that insurance. Anti-choice lawmakers at the NCGA have even forced private health insurers that offer plans on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace to drop abortion coverage.

With the procedure typically starting around $500, plus potential travel, child care and lost work costs, many low-income patients seeking an abortion are forced to scramble to come up with the money needed to access this common, safe and legal medical procedure. This means too many patients end up skipping rent or other bill payments, borrowing money, facing substantial delays in accessing care, or calling already-strapped abortion funds for help. Insurance bans on abortion coverage are not just about politics – they are about perpetuating our society’s entrenched economic injustices and health care inequities.

With 7 in 10 Americans supporting access to safe and legal abortion no matter their personal feelings, there is a national movement to address the economic injustice of insurance bans on abortion. Join us to learn more! Our panel of reproductive health, rights and justice advocates will discuss the different impacts of these bans on various communities, and why we need to ensure all people have the support they need to make the personal reproductive health choices that work best for them.

Carolina Abortion Fund:A volunteer-run nonprofit that provides financial assistance to North Carolinians who choose to have an abortion but cannot afford the full cost.

NARAL Pro-Choice North Carolina: A statewide advocacy organization that works to ensure all North Carolinians can make the reproductive health care decisions they need, including preventing pregnancy, carrying a pregnancy to term safely, and terminating a pregnancy.

Sister Song, Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective: SisterSong’s mission is to strengthen and amplify the collective voices of indigenous women and women of color to achieve reproductive justice by eradicating reproductive oppression and securing human rights.