Schakowsky Statement on 39th Anniversary of 1st Hyde Restrictions

WASHINGTON D.C. - The Hyde amendment, included in annual federal appropriations bills, restricts access to abortions except in instances of rape, incest or where the life of the woman is threatened. The first time Congress included the language in annual spending bills was 39 years ago today.

Rep. Schakowsky issued the following statement on this anniversary:

In 1973, in the historic Roe v Wade decision, the U.S. Supreme Court took action to improve women’s health by making abortions legal. The decision wasn’t the beginning of American women having abortions, it was the end of women dying from unsafe, backroom abortions. With passage of the Hyde amendment in 1976, women on Medicaid lost that right. Every year since then, Congress has acted to discriminate against low-income women, women who receive health care through federal employment, women living in the District of Columbia, and others.

It is time that we end the Hyde amendment. Politicians should not be allowed to impose their judgments on what should be the decision of each woman and her doctor. That is why I am so proud to have joined my colleague Representative Barbara Lee to introduce H.R. 2972, the EACH Woman Act. Our bill would ensure that every woman – regardless of her income, her source of insurance coverage, or where she lives – has access to safe, legal abortions. It would guarantee that every woman can make the choices that are right for her.

I am proud that over 75 local, state and federal organizations have joined us in the fight for the EACH Woman Act. Some of my colleagues are trying to move us backward. Using highly-edited and probably illegal tapes from an extremist group, they are attacking women’s right to choose their own provider by defunding Planned Parenthood clinics and taking us back to the days before Roe v. Wade. They are even willing to shutdown the government to do so.

At this time, all of us who care about women’s health and protecting women’s access to the full range of reproductive services need to speak loudly, clearly and persistently. We will not go back. Instead, we will move forward by ending the discrimination embodied in the Hyde amendment.