National Women’s Law Center. “The Hyde Amendment Creates An Unacceptable Barrier To Women Getting Abortions.” National Women’s Law Center, July 2015. http://nwlc.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/the_hyde_amendment_creates_an_unacceptable_barrier.pdf.
Annotation
This brief fact sheet summarizes a variety of negative results of the Hyde Amendment. Several leading studies indicate that the Hyde Amendment denies insurance coverage to qualified individuals, endangers women's health, and creates economic barriers to reproductive healthcare for low-income women. The fact sheet also summarizes the history and purpose of the Hyde Amendment, focusing on statements made by author Rep. Henry Hyde, to argue that the Amendment intended to prevent low-income women from getting abortions. The fact sheet also explains how the Hyde Amendment burdens women of color. Incidentally, it also burdens other groups that rely on federal insurance coverage, such as military personnel and people in federal prisons. The fact sheet is written from an advocacy perspective, and thus urges policymakers to address these problems by eliminating the Hyde Amendment’s abortion coverage restrictions. This fact sheet provides a brief, yet thorough, overview of the Hyde Amendment’s negative impacts, and it is especially useful for understanding how the Hyde Amendment undermines poor women’s health and economic security.