Bill Repeals Harmful and Discriminatory Hyde Amendment as House GOP Continue Attack on Abortion Rights

Bill Text | Livestream | Photos

WASHINGTON – Today, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, Chair of the Pro Choice Caucus’ (PCC) Abortion Rights and Access Task Force, alongside her PCC colleagues Representatives Barbara Lee (D-CA), Diana DeGette (D-CO), and Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), led a group of 163 representatives in reintroducing the Equal Access to Abortion Coverage in Healthcare (EACH) Act, bold legislation to guarantee abortion coverage—regardless of how a patient gets their health insurance. 

The EACH Act ends the discriminatory Hyde Amendment and lifts unjust abortion coverage restrictions for those who depend on Medicaid and other government-sponsored plans. The bill protects the constitutionally-protected right to abortion and helps ensure everyone can get the reproductive healthcare they need, regardless of income, insurance, or zip code.

“Our bodily autonomy is under attack nationwide and the racist and discriminatory Hyde Amendment is yet another barrier preventing millions from accessing safe and legal abortion care – particularly our Black, brown, low-income, and other marginalized communities,” said Congresswoman Pressley. “With Republicans’ ongoing assault on reproductive justice, we must use every tool available to affirm abortion care as the fundamental human right that it is. The EACH Act would repeal Hyde and put us one step closer to dismantling the systems of oppression that push comprehensive health care out of reach for many. I am proud to join my colleagues on the Pro-Choice Caucus to introduce this critical bill and I am grateful to our allies in the movement for their partnership.”

“Let’s be clear: the Hyde Amendment is blatantly racist and classist, and keeping it in place is yet another attempt by extremist, out-of-touch Republicans to strip people of this country of their reproductive freedom,” said Congresswoman Lee. “For over 40 years, Hyde has forced poor women who are denied insurance coverage for abortions to carry pregnancies to term or pay for care when they’re already struggling to make ends meet. With extreme abortion laws in place in half the country, it is more critical than ever that we fight to make abortion accessible wherever possible. It is past time for our policies to ensure everyone can get the health care they need without shame, punishment, or financial ruin. It is time to take a step forward, not back. It is time to repeal Hyde once and for all.”

“Every person should have the freedom to make their own reproductive health care decisions regardless of their income, race, where they work, what zip code they live in, or how they get their insurance,” said Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky. “The Hyde Amendment is a racist, discriminatory policy designed to put reproductive and economic freedom out of reach for women of color and low-income women who need an abortion. By restricting Medicaid coverage of abortion, the Hyde Amendment robs those working to make ends meet of the freedom to control their lives and decisions about what is best for their families. The EACH Act, which I am proud to reintroduce with Reps. Lee, DeGette, and Pressley, will finally repeal the Hyde Amendment. Whether at home or abroad, abortion is health care and health care is a human right.”

“Following a pivotal midterm election, the EACH Act is the type of bold legislation we need to build a world where abortion is truly affordable,” said Morgan Hopkins, President of All* Above All. “For decades, even with the protections of Roe v. Wade, the Hyde Amendment has pushed care out of reach for people working to make ends meet, especially people of color. The harm is now worse as anti-abortion state politicians rush to ban abortion. Black, Indigenous, Latina, AAPI, and women of color have been organizing to end Hyde for years. We applaud bold legislators in the U.S. House for introducing the EACH Act today and putting us on a pathway to abortion justice.”

The bill text can be found here.

Rep. Pressley is also a lead co-sponsor of the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA), bicameral federal legislation to guarantee equal access to abortion care, everywhere. 

As Chair of the Pro-Choice Caucus’s Abortion Rights and Access Task Force, Congresswoman Pressley has fought tirelessly to repeal the Hyde Amendment and protect comprehensive reproductive health care for all, including abortion care.

• Over the course of her first term serving in Congress, Congresswoman Pressley has filed amendments every year to repeal Hyde from annual Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies appropriations bills and in July published a Medium post on the importance of doing so.
• In May 2021, Rep. Pressley applauded President Biden’s decision to honor his commitment to strike the Hyde Amendment from his Fiscal Year 2022 presidential budget proposal. 
• In March 2021, Rep. Pressley, along with Congresswomen Barbara Lee (CA-13), Diana DeGette (CO-01) and Jan Schakowsky (IL-09), led a group of 131 Democratic members in reintroducing the Equal Access to Abortion Coverage in Health Insurance Act or the EACH Act, which would repeal the Hyde Amendment and ensure that all people, regardless of income, insurance or zip code, can make personal reproductive health care decisions without interference from politicians.
• In June, Congresswoman Pressley, along with U.S. Representatives Judy Chu (D-CA), Lois Frankel (D-FL), Veronica Escobar (D-TX) and Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI),  introduced the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA), bicameral federal legislation to guarantee equal access to abortion care, everywhere.  
• In May 2020, she led more than 155 Members of Congress in calling on House Democratic leadership to ensure that any future COVID-19 relief packages rejected Republican efforts to use the public health crisis to diminish abortion access.
• In May 2019, she led more than 100 colleagues in introducing H.Con.Res.40, a resolution reaffirming the House of Representative’s support for Roe v. Wade. In June 2019, Rep. Pressley introduced H.R. 3296, the Affordability is Access Act, to make oral contraception available without a prescription. 

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