For over 40 years, the Hyde Amendment has pushed time-sensitive, essential abortion care out of reach for countless Americans by discriminating against those struggling to make ends meet. Although Hyde is not permanent law, the amendment has been repeatedly approved in annual appropriations bills and has even emboldened anti-abortion lawmakers to obstruct private insurance coverage of abortion. 

Now, the measure not only denies abortion coverage through Medicaid, Medicare, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), but also extends to federal employees and dependents, military personnel and dependents, Peace Corps volunteers, indigenous peoples receiving care from federal or tribal programs, pregnant individuals in federal prisons and detention centers, pregnant individuals receiving care from community health centers, and survivors of human trafficking. This policy disproportionately impacts Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities and is a painful example of how systemic racism permeates our federal laws and regulations.

As people of faith and conscience, we believe in advancing justice for all, and that means no one should be denied insurance coverage of abortion simply based on their income level.

We believe in upholding individual religious liberty — the right and ability of each person to make their own faith-informed decisions about whether to become a parent or to end a pregnancy.

We believe in the ultimate moral imperative to protect every single person’s health, the obligation to care for our bodies and to ensure others can do the same through access to quality medical care.

And finally, we believe in advancing economic justice. It is plainly unjust that coverage bans like the Hyde Amendment place those struggling to make ends meet at greater risk of poverty. 

It is time to set the record straight and to fight for low-income people, BIPOC communities, young people, people living with disabilities, rural communities, immigrants, and LGBTQ individuals who have long been denied access to basic health care through abortion coverage bans. Everyone deserves respect, dignity, and equal access to the resources needed to control their body, family, and future, including insurance coverage of abortion. We call on Congress to pass the Equal Access to Abortion Coverage in Health Insurance (EACH Woman) Act to permanently end the Hyde Amendment and related coverage bans and to prohibit political interference in private insurance coverage of abortion at all levels of government.