For nearly 35 years, women in this country have had the right to obtain safe, legal abortion care. However, bans on Medicaid coverage for abortion have taken away the ability of low-income women to exercise this right. Since 1976, the Hyde Amendment has prohibited federal Medicaid funding for abortion in almost all circumstances.

The Hyde Amendment is fundamentally unfair by denying poor women the right to abortion simply because they cannot afford it.

It is time for Congress to repeal the Hyde Amendment and restore Medicaid coverage for abortion. We must close the gap between the legal right to abortion and genuine access to care.