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For Immediate Release: July 16, 2009
Contact: Adrienne Ammerman or Mary Robbins, 202-588-5180
DC ABORTION BAN LIFTED IN HOUSE
NWLC Calls for the Senate to Do the Same
(Washington, DC) The House of Representatives passed the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act today, which lifts restrictions barring the District of Columbia from using local funds to provide abortion services.
The following is a statement by Marcia D. Greenberger, Co-President of the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC):
“Although all states currently have discretion over how to spend their local revenue, anti-choice members of Congress have barred the District of Columbia from using its own local funds to provide abortion services for 18 of the past 20 years. Today, the House took an important step toward lifting this ban – thereby allowing the District to make its own decisions about the use of its own funds to provide abortion health services for low-income residents.
“Restrictions on public funding for abortion disproportionately affect women of color, a quarter of whom in DC are living in poverty and are more likely to rely on public funding for basic medical services. The time needed to secure funds, if indeed they even can, often results in poor women experiencing delays in obtaining an abortion. The greater the delay in obtaining an abortion, the less safe the procedure becomes. Those women who are unable to secure the funds can be denied affordable services altogether.
“In his 2010 budget request President Obama called upon Congress to give DC the same authority every state has: to make decisions about how to spend locally-raised funds without federal interference. The National Women’s Law Center applauds the House for taking action to end this unjust and discriminatory policy. We now call on the Senate to similarly defeat efforts to impose this funding restriction on DC residents.”
To interview Marcia D. Greenberger, or for more about the National Women’s Law Center, contact Adrienne Ammerman at aammerman@nwlc.org or at 202-588-5180.
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