DeGette, Lee introduce legislation to expand access to abortion care

WASHINGTON, DC — The co-chairs of the Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus, U.S. Reps. Diana DeGette (D-CO) and Barbara Lee (D-CA), introduced legislation today to make abortion care more accessible to millions of women by ending a decades-long ban on abortion care coverage for those on Medicaid and other federally funded health-care programs.

The legislation – known as the Equal Access to Abortion Coverage (EACH) Act – would end the so-called Hyde Amendment, a provision that prohibits the use of federal funds for abortion services, which has been attached to every government spending bill Congress has approved since 1976.

The measure prevents government-sponsored health insurance plans, such as Medicaid – which covers more than 83 million Americans, including nearly 20% of all women of reproductive age – from providing coverage for abortion services, and has significantly impacted low-income women’s ability to access abortion care.

“Access to health care, including abortion care, should not depend on how you pay for your health insurance, full stop,” DeGette said. “Everyone in this country should have the freedom to make their own health care decisions. Yet, for more than 40 years, people on Medicaid have not been able to get abortion care because they can’t afford the full cost of the procedure on their own.  This legislation will ensure that everyone – regardless of how much money they make, or what kind of insurance they have – has equal access to the full range of reproductive care that’s available in this country.”

According to, at least, one study, one out of every four women on Medicaid who wanted to have an abortion was unable to get one. Further studies show that when a woman who is denied access to abortion care she is three times more likely to fall into poverty as a result.

If approved, the EACH Act would require federal health insurance plans, such as Medicaid, to provide coverage for abortion services. It would also require government-managed health insurance programs, such as health care programs for federal employees and retirees, to provide coverage for abortion care to their beneficiaries. And it would prevent the government from interfering with private health insurance plans that provide abortion coverage.

Text of the legislation is available here.

Video of DeGette’s remarks at today’s press conference is available here.