Tell Speaker Pelosi and Rep. Speier to REMOVE the Hyde Amendment
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Speaker Nancy Pelosi
SF Office: (415) 556-4862
DC Office: (202) 225-4965
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Rep. Jackie Speier
San Mateo Office: (650) 342-0300
DC Office: (202) 225-3531
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Call Script
My name is __________. I am a constituent, and my zip code is _______. I am a member of Indivisible SF.
I ask that [Speaker Pelosi/Rep. Speier] NOT authorize the inclusion of the Hyde Amendment in the current HHS appropriations bill, because it discriminates against low-income women by denying them equal access to healthcare.
Background:
The Hyde Amendment prohibits federal funds from being used to provide abortion services, except in instances of rape, incest or to save the life of the mother - an exception that has been granted in only three instances in the last 25 years. Congress passed the first iteration of the Hyde Amendment in 1976, just a few years after Roe v. Wade, attaching it to the Health & Human Services (HHS) Medicaid appropriations bill, effectively barring Medicaid funds from being used for abortion services. Because the majority of low-income women rely upon Medicaid for their healthcare services, the Hyde Amendment essentially blocks their access to abortion services entirely, even in many states where abortion itself is still legal!
The amendment must be voted on and passed, attached to the HHS appropriations bill, each year. And every year, the House has voted to retain the Hyde Amendment in its appropriations bills, since its inception! In fact, the current House Democratic Caucus - the one we worked so hard to elect in the 2018 midterms - is set to vote THIS WEEK on an appropriations bill that once again would extend the prohibition for yet another year! With abortion rights under attack across the country, we must not tolerate yet another year in which we allow our representatives in the House to deny low-income women equal access to legal abortion services!
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/06/democrats-hyde-amendment-history/591646/
https://www.plannedparenthoodaction.org/issues/abortion/hyde-amendment