“The mean-spirited attacks on women’s health in the House of Representatives must end. Today the House will vote on an amendment introduced by Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) to remove an abortion restriction that was snuck onto the 21st Century Cures Act at the last minute. Anyone who cares at all about women’s health will vote for the Lee amendment to take this offensive, harmful language off the legislation.

The relentless attacks on women’s health, and in particular on low-income women’s health care, seem to know no bounds in the House of Representatives. The House leadership is working to expand the Hyde Amendment, which denies low-income women coverage for abortion care at the same time it has proposed ending the nation’s family planning program, which provides birth control to low-income women to help them prevent unintended pregnancies.

Placing restrictions on abortion coverage on bill after bill is a callous, calculated strategy designed to chip away at women’s ability to make their own personal health care decisions. It disproportionately harms women of color, immigrants and young people, and it must end.

We commend Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) for her work to fight this language and to champion the EACH Woman Act, so that all women will have health coverage for abortion, regardless of their income or the source of their insurance. The House must remove this harmful abortion restriction from the 21st Century Cures Act.”