How does the Hyde Amendment restrict insurance coverage of abortion care?
- The Hyde Amendment is a policy that bans the use of federal funds to pay for abortion care except when a pregnancy endangers the life of the pregnant person, or when it results from rape or incest. Since 1976 Congress has inserted the Hyde language in the annual appropriations bill.
- This restriction on federal funding has been expanded to a number of federally funded health insurance programs, including Medicaid, Medicare, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, the Federal Employee’s Health Benefits Program, and the Indian Health Service.
- US states may elect to use state-based funding to pay for the abortion care that the Hyde Amendment prohibits for individuals enrolled in Medicaid; however, as of April 2020 only 16 states do so.
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