{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://degette.house.gov/media-center/in-the-news/ending-the-hyde-amendment", "Ending the Hyde Amendment", "2016-10-26", "2016", "2016-10", "Democrat", "House", "CO", "Diana DeGette", "D000197", "degette.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "The Colorado Statesman\nBy Congresswoman Diana DeGette\nRecently there\u2019s been a groundswell of support for legislation to right a four-decade wrong:\u00a0a restriction using federal funds for women\u2019s health care that has predominantly hurt the under-privileged.\u00a0\nThis ban, known as the Hyde Amendment, prohibits federal funds in Medicaid and other health programs from being used for abortions.\u00a0\nNow the restriction stops this coverage for all federal employees, military personnel, Peace Corps volunteers, Native Americans on federal insurance and inmates in federal prisons.\nPoliticians have inserted this provision into law year after year.\u00a0They did it again in the stopgap spending bill that keeps the lights on in Washington until mid-December.\u00a0And when Congress returns to Washington the week after the elections, they\u2019re planning once again to renew the prohibition for another year.\nThe impact of this annual assault on women\u2019s constitutionally-protected rights is clear: A woman who seeks an abortion but can\u2019t have one because she can\u2019t afford it is more likely to fall on even harder times, deepening the cycle of poverty.\nJust think about what that does to individuals and families across this country.\u00a0Put yourself in the shoes of a poor and frightened young woman who\u2019s forced to carry to term an unintended pregnancy because of the prohibitive cost of an abortion.\nAccording to the Guttmacher Institute, one in four women on Medicaid who seek abortions are placed in that position.\u00a0\nNow just imagine what impact that unfair burden has on families, on communities \u2013 on our society as a whole.\nMedicaid provides care to millions of women of reproductive age and serves as their lifeline. Women of color \u2013 Latina and African American \u2013 are more likely to use public insurance programs such as Medicaid to get care.\nWe can\u2019t know these women\u2019s circumstances.\u00a0We don\u2019t know their finances.\u00a0 What we do know is that every woman should be able to access every option available to her when making a personal decision about whether to terminate a pregnancy.\u00a0This is her right \u2013 a right affirmed by the United States Supreme Court as guaranteed under the Constitution.\nAs Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has said, \u201cThe decision of whether or not to bear a child is central to a woman\u2019s life, her well-being and her dignity.\u201d Looking at laws that keep disadvantaged people from having access to abortion, Justice Ginsberg has noted: \u201cThat we have one law for women of means and another for poor women is not a satisfactory solution.\u201d\nThis is why I\u2019m an original co-sponsor of the Equal Access to Abortion Coverage in Health Insurance Act, also known as the EACH Woman Act. This bill, which 125 House members support, would overturn the Hyde Amendment once and for all.\u00a0\nThe legislation has the support of dozens of organizations, including Planned Parenthood, NARAL, the ACLU, the Alliance for Justice and many more.\u00a0\nEnding the Hyde Amendment has become a topic of interest in the presidential campaign, so perhaps that will give it more momentum.\u00a0With enough support, it may be an idea whose time has finally come.\nDiana DeGette represents Colorado\u2019s First District to the U.S. Congress and is co-chair of the Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://degette.house.gov/media-center/in-the-news/ending-the-hyde-amendment"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4465968124568462, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}