Thirty years is enough.

The Guttmacher Institute and Kaiser Family Foundation released a report yesterday on Medicaid’s role in family planning services in the U.S.; In short, it’s the largest source of public funding for family planning services in the country, serving millions of low-income women in contraceptive services.
But sadly, there is a downside. In 1976, Congress passed the Hyde Amendment, legislation that excludes abortion from government-funded health care programs. As the report will show you, women enrolled in Medicaid and other programs for that matter receive coverage for family planning services including contraception, prenatal care, labor and delivery. But abortion isn’t included unless she is a victim of rape, incest or her life is in danger.
In other words, low-income women are forced to sacrifice rent or money for food to obtain an abortion, or are forced to continue the pregnancy and stay trapped in poverty. This makes me think about what Justice Bader Ginsburg said recently about the overturn of Roe v. Wade having “a devastating impact on poor women.” But how much “choiceâ€? do they really have now when they don’t even have access?
The National Network of Abortion Funds leads a national campaign with a number of other advocacy groups which aims to repeal the Hyde Amendment. Their goal is to get 20,000 signatures delivered to Congress by January 2008. So go sign the petition to help give all women the access to choose.