The Equal Access to Abortion Coverage in Health Insurance (EACH) Act would repeal the Hyde Amendment, which since 1976 has barred federal funding from being used to pay for abortions except in rare circumstances like rape, incest or when the woman's life is in danger.
Aside from Medicaid, the ban also means federal employees and their dependents, military service members, Native Americans and Indigenous people, Peace Corps volunteers, immigrants, people in federal prisons, and low-income residents of Washington, D.C. are all prohibited from having insurance cover abortions.
As of 2024, more than 5 million women aged 15 to 49 who are enrolled in Medicaid live in States where abortion is legal but not covered by the program except in Hyde-allowable circumstances.
"With Trump and Republicans advancing a cruel, coordinated assault on our bodily autonomy—gutting Medicaid, defunding Planned Parenthood, and decimating access to care—we must meet use every tool available to protect and expand reproductive healthcare," Pressley said in a statement.
"By repealing the racist and discriminatory Hyde Amendment, which has denied necessary care for vulnerable communities for nearly half a century, our bill would help ensure everyone in America can get the reproductive healthcare they need, regardless of income, insurance, or zip code."
The bill would also prevent the federal government from prohibiting or restricting coverage of abortion care by private health insurance companies, including those participating in the ObamaCare insurance exchanges.
The legislation was previously introduced in 2023, a year after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and ruled there is no constitutional right to an abortion.
Democrats leaned almost exclusively into abortion during the 2024 campaign. The latest reintroduction, on top of other congressional reproductive health bills, shows Democrats aren't going to let the issue go, though the message has been diversified.
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