Alvarez 1

Keilani Alvarez
Mr. Rogers 4
Government 3
26 October 2016
The Destructive Hyde Amendment
Abortion has been a widely controversial and sensitive topic for many decades. On
January 22, 1973, in the Roe V. Wade case, the Supreme Court ruled womens right to obtain an
abortion constitutional. Ever since the Roe V. Wade decision, opponents have been trying to
attack the ruling in order to ban abortion nationally. In 1976, Congress passed the Hyde
Amendment, which bans Medicaid coverage for abortion. From 1976 to now, the Hyde
Amendment has been reenacted each following year. The Hyde Amendment needs to be repealed
because it deprives women of their rights, targets women of lower financial status, and can make
women resort to dangerous alternatives of abortion.
Each and every individual citizen of the United States has the right to make their own
decisions, so why are women bereaved of the choice of abortion? The Hyde Amendment limits
womens rights by taking away the option from financially unstable women of getting an
abortion. The government has even been trying to close and shut down some clinics. Closing
abortion clinics automatically takes away a womans choice, and the government chooses for
them (Watkins). If women are not able to have control over their reproductive life, the
government has the ability to take even more rights away. Some people do not even think of how
women are affected by the Hyde Amendment. Most states adopted the Hyde Amendment to
avoid paying abortion costs (Benson Gold 131). Only 17 states provide state funds for abortion

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procedures, while the rest abide by the Hyde Amendment. Politicians are effectively able to
control womens lives that are in the reproductive age, while those women have no say in how
important it is for them to get an abortion.
Because of the Hyde Amendment, women of lower social status are unable to obtain the
abortion that they need. Some women are unable to save up money in time for an abortion and
have to resort to having the child. This situation is a struggle and the mother would even have to
possibly give up the baby due to a lack of money. Even the delivery of the baby comes with
heavy costs (Hartz 261). Trying to save money for an abortion or for the pregnancy alone takes
away money from a woman that she has to use for her necessities. Medicaid is meant to
financially aid people for medical treatments (Harris v. McRae). If a woman can barely
provide for herself, how is she going to effectively take care of another human being? As an
individual, a person should be able to take care of themselves first, however the Hyde
Amendment forces women to put everything aside and care for another.
If a woman is denied coverage for an abortion, she may resort to alternatives that can
negatively affect her health. Since 1987, pregnancy-related deaths have progressively increased
(Pregnancy Mortality Surveillance System). This statistic is eye opening; this is a situation that
results from the Hyde Amendment. Women choose unsafe abortions when they have no other
choice; every eight minutes, a woman dies because of life-threatening abortions (Haddad and
Nour). The Hyde Amendment is an inconvenient and dangerous bill for women; it does more
harm than good. Some women are desperate to have an abortion but are denied insurance
coverage, so they take matters into their own hands.

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Proponents of the Hyde Amendment argue that the number of abortions decreased
significantly and oppose the use of their tax dollars for abortion. The main argument here is that
thousands of babies lives and taxpayers money have been saved because of the Hyde
Amendment. Many people support the amendment because they want their tax money to be
spent on something useful and that would benefit themselves. Pregnant women have a right to
privacy and a right for self-determination (Gordon). Why are strangers allowed to choose
whether or not abortion is acceptable for them or not? The Hyde Amendment forces more than
half of patients seeking abortion to rely on other people or money dedicated to paying bills for
funds to pay for an abortion procedure (Paying for Abortion). That means procedures are
delayed due to the financial issues. Think about the thousands of women that seeked an abortion
but could not get one. Maybe she was poor and could not care for a child or maybe she had a
detrimental health condition that needed care for instead. The Hyde Amendment does not protect
women or their rights.
Denying financial coverage for abortion does not let women exercise their full rights, it
puts low-income women in a life or death situation, and makes women feel the need to turn to
illegal and unsafe abortions. If this pattern continues, how are we ever going to grow as a nation?
The only answer is to repeal the Hyde Amendment. Do not allow the Hyde Amendment to be
reenacted another year, vote no.

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Works Cited
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n.d. www.emedicinehealth.com/abortion/article_em.htm. Accessed 06 Oct. 2016.
Benson Gold, Rachel. After the Hyde Amendment: Public Funding for Abortion in FY 1978.
Family Planning Perspectives, vol. 12, no. 3, 1980, pp. 131-134. Accessed 18 Sep. 2016.
Dutton, Zoe. "Abortion's Racial Gap." The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 22 Sept. 2014.
www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/09/abortions-racial-gap/380251/. Accessed 06
Oct. 2016.
Gordon, John-Stewart. Abortion . Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Internet Encyclopedia
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Philosophy, www.iep.utm.edu/abortion/. Accessed 25 Oct. 2016.

Haddad, Lisa B. and Nawal M. Nour. Unsafe Abortion: Unnecessary Maternal Mortality.
National Center for Biotechnology Review, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2009,
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmc2709326/. Accessed 25 Oct. 2016.
Harris v. McRae. Legal Information Institute, Cornell University Law School,
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Hartz, Nicole M. Adequate Assurance or Medical Mediocrity: An Analysis of the Limits on the
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Leverich, Jean. Abortion. Detroit: Greenhaven, 2010. Print.

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Paying for Abortion. Accessing Abortion in Illinois: A Guide for Health Care and Social
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Providers, The University of Chicago,

www.abguide.uchicago.edu/page/paying-abortion.

Accessed Oct. 25 2016.

"Pregnancy Mortality Surveillance System." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. U.S.
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"Public Funding for Abortion." American Civil Liberties Union. ACLU, n.d.
www.aclu.org/other/public-funding-abortion. Accessed 06 Oct. 2016.
Rankin, Lauren. "Why Can't Low-Income Women Access Abortion?" Abortion Coverage,
Womens Rights Hyde Amendment Unjust. Refinery 29, 29 Sept. 2016.

www.refinery29.com/2016/09/124741/abortion-rights-hyde-amendment-40th-anniversary.
10 Oct. 2016.
Watkins, Christine. Abortion Is a Woman's Choice. Cengage Learning,
www.faculty.njcu.edu/shaber/pro%20abortion%20rights.htm. Accessed 15 Oct. 2016.