House Bill Descriptions
| Abortion Access for Low Income Women |
| The 105th Congress wrote into permanent law a near ban on coverage of abortion services in a domestic health program. Representatives voted on prohibiting federal funds from being used to pay for abortion except when the pregnancy results from rape or incest or when an abortion is necessary to save a woman's life. This discriminatory language is known as the "Hyde Amendment." (9/11/97, Hyde Amendment to H.R. 2264, amendment passed, roll call 388) |
| Insurance Coverage For Contraceptives |
| Half of all pregnancies in the U.S. are unintended and half of all unintended pregnancies end in abortion. Contraceptives have a proven track record of enhancing the health of women and children, preventing unintended pregnancy, and reducing the need for abortion. Although contraception is basic health care for women, far too many insurance policies exclude this vital coverage. Representatives voted on requiring federal employees' health benefits to cover prescription contraceptives and related services if they cover other prescription drugs. (7/15/99, Lowey Amendment to H.R. 2490, amendment passed, roll call 303) |
| Global Gag Rule |
| The global gag rule is an anti-family planning restriction that reduces access to contraceptive and abortion services and information in poorer countries. Imposed by President George W. Bush as one of his first acts in office, the global gag rule bars foreign non-governmental organizations from receiving U.S. family planning assistance if the organization (using their own, non-U.S. funds) provides abortion services or information or advocates for pro-choice laws and policies in their own country. An amendment that would overturn the global gag rule was adopted in committee. Representatives voted on striking this amendment in order to keep the global gag rule restrictions in place. (5/16/01, Hyde Amendment to H.R. 1646, amendment passed, roll call 115) |
| International Family Planning Funding |
| International family planning assistance supports education, information, and services to help people around the world protect themselves from unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS. The United Nations Population Fund (known as UNFPA) provides preventive family planning services, working in more than 150 countries and in some of the poorest, most remote regions of the world. Representatives voted on restoring funding to the UNFPA, which was cut by President George W. Bush in 2002. (6/15/05, Maloney Amendment to H.R. 2863, amendment failed, roll call 266) |
| Confidential Family Planning Access for Minors |
| Some Members of Congress believe that parental notification or consent should be required for teenagers to receive family planning (birth control) services. While it is important to support communication between parents and their children, requiring parental notification or consent would reduce the number of teens obtaining contraceptive services. This, in turn, would increase the number of unintended teen pregnancies and teenagers with sexually transmitted infections, including HIV. Representatives voted on mandating parental consent for family planning services at federally funded clinics. (10/8/98, Istook Amendment to H.R. 4274, amendment passed, roll call 504) |
| Mifepristone (Formerly Known As RU-486) |
| Mifepristone induces abortion when administered in early pregnancy, thus providing women with a medical alternative to surgical abortion. It is estimated that more than 600,000 women in Europe have safely had medical abortions using the mifepristone regimen. Representatives voted on prohibiting the FDA from spending funds to test, develop, or approve any drug that induces an abortion, including mifepristone. (7/10/00, Coburn Amendment to H.R. 4461, amendment failed, roll call 373) |
| Abortion Access for Minors |
| Of all the abortion-related policy issues facing decision makers in this country today, parental consent or notification regarding minors and abortion is perhaps the most difficult. We agree that most teenagers would benefit from adult guidance when faced with an unwanted pregnancy, but "enforcing" this communication in a troubled home could cause a desperate teenager to take physical and emotional risks. Representatives voted on criminalizing the act of taking a minor across state lines for the purpose of evading the home state's parental consent laws to obtain an abortion. (4/27/05, Final Passage of H.R. 748, legislation passed, roll call 144) |
| Abortion Access for Military Service Members |
| Congress has used its funding powers to single out certain clases of women (low-income, federal employees, military personnel serving overseas, residents of the District of Columbia and women in federal prisons) and restrict their access to legal abortions because their health care is funded in part by the federal government. As part of this relentless attack on access to abortion services, Congress continues to bar military service members and their dependents from obtaining abortions in U.S. military hospitals overseas - even if they use their own money. Representatives voted on lifting this ban, which contains exceptions only for cases of life endangerment, rape, or incest, and is especially harmful to those women stationed overseas in countries where abortion is illegal and/or unsafe. (5/10/06, Andrews Amendment to HR5122, amendment failed, roll call 136) |
| Family Planning Funding |
| Title X ("ten") is the nation's primary family planning program. Each year, over 4 million women receive family planning services at clinics funded by Title X. These services include contraceptive services; family planning counseling; pelvic and breast exams; screening for blood pressure, anemia and diabetes; screening and treatment for sexually transmitted infections; safe-sex counseling; basic infertility screening; and referrals to specialized health care. Despite the importance of this program, Title X is still under attack by anti-choice, anti-family planning legislators. Representatives voted on restoring Title X as a categorical program and funding it at its 1995 level. (8/2/95, Greenwood Amendment to H.R. 2127, amendment passed, roll call 615) |
| Abortion Ban |
| Despite the fact that the Supreme Court struck down legislation virtually identical to the so-called "Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act" in 2000, anti-choice Members of Congress insisted on advancing this legislation to influence election politics and advance their long-term goal of overturning Roe v. Wade. This bill lacks a health exception, which the Supreme Court unequivocally said was a fatal flaw in any pre-viability abortions in violation of a woman's right to choose. Representatives voted on imposing criminal penalties on doctors for performing vaguely defined abortion procedures. (6/4/03, Final Passage of H.R. 760, legislation passed, roll call 242) |
| Fetal Rights |
| On its face, this law creates a penalty for violation of a number of criminal statutes if, in the course of commission of these crimes, an unborn child is injured or killed. The dangerous reality of the law, however, is that it elevates the legal status of the fetus to that of an adult human being. This is merely the first step toward eroding a woman's right to choose. Representatives voted on defining unborn child as a member of the species homo sapiens, at any stage of development, who is carried in the womb, giving separate federal protection to a fertilized egg, embryo or fetus. (2/26/04, Final Passage of H.R.1997, legislation passed, roll call 31) | |
