The Hyde Amendment and Obama’s Health Care Bill

The Hyde Amendment and Obama’s Health Care Bill
Two Wrongs Make a Disaster for Abortion Rights
A statement of the Socialist Party Women’s Commission

A major provision of the health care bill being put forward by the Obama administration -- and opportunistically maneuvered through the House of Representatives, and next the Senate, by the Democratic leadership -- shows just how disregarding the US government continues to be when it comes to abortion rights.

This provision would expand the scope of the Hyde Amendment -- that nasty piece of national legislation that since 1976 has prohibited the use of federal funds for abortion -- to include private health insurance plans partially subsidized by the federal government. This means that additional millions of women would be denied abortion as one of their health care options. Its inclusion in the health care bill is an outrageous capitulation by the Obama administration to the Catholic Church, religious fundamentalists, and Congressional conservatives and hypocrites of both the Democratic and Republican parties. We must fight back: No national health care system that denies the right to abortion on demand! Repeal the Hyde Amendment!

Read the full statement here.