“Pro-Choice” House Lawmakers Advance Racist Hyde Amendment in Spending Bill
July 7, 2020
Rachel Waters
rwaters@urge.org
706-831-1667
(Washington, DC) — Statement by Kimberly Inez McGuire, Executive Director of URGE: Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity in response to the House inserting Hyde Amendment language into the labor HHS spending bill.
“We are in the midst of a public health crisis, record numbers of people are out of work, women and families are struggling to make ends meet, and no one has suffered these impacts more than people in Black, Indigenous, and Latinx communities. Under these circumstances, it is frankly shocking that any member of Congress who thinks of themselves as ‘pro-choice’ or a supporter of the movement for Black lives can back a bill that includes the racist Hyde Amendment.”
“The Hyde Amendment was always unjust. At this moment in our nation’s history, this racist abortion coverage ban is downright unacceptable. The Hyde Amendment is an abortion restriction weaponized against poor, young, Black, and Indigenous people and women of color. How can any lawmaker call herself progressive or pro-choice while supporting a policy that forces low-income people into unimaginable struggles just to get the essential abortion care they need?”
“The young activists leading the global uprising for Black lives are a lesson in courage for lawmakers who seem to be searching for theirs.”
“This is not the time to peddle racist, decades-old policies that punish poor women, people of color, and young people for making our own reproductive decisions. This is a moment for leaders to lead, to fight for low-income people and women of color. Congress, do better.”
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URGE envisions a liberated world where we can live with justice, love freely, express our gender and sexuality, and define and create families of our choosing. To achieve our vision of liberation, URGE builds power and sustains a young people’s movement for reproductive justice by centering the leadership of young people of color who are women, queer, trans, nonbinary, and people of low-income. As a state-driven national organization, URGE organizes our communities, provides a political home for young people, advocates for meaningful policy change, and shifts culture, working in states where the challenges and opportunities are greatest.
