An Inside Look at the Harm Created by Insurance Bans on Abortion

Article originally appeared in Rewire on September 30th, 2020.

For over 40 years, Congress has used the Hyde Amendment to keep abortion care out of the reach of low-income people.

Hyde blocks federal funds from Medicaid, a joint federal and state health insurance program, from being used to cover abortion costs. The amendment’s federal spending ban has trickled down to state funding bans and attempts to bar private insurance from covering abortion as well.

The impact of insurance bans like Hyde are discriminatory and devastating, as these stories from doctors, patients, and funding providers show.