House’s Hyde Amendment Vote Advances Abortion Justice and Racial Equity

Congress just took a historic step forward for racial, economic and reproductive justice 45 years in the making. Every year since 1976, lawmakers have chosen to deny insurance coverage of abortion to people working to make ends meet by adding a policy known as the Hyde Amendment to federal spending bills. But now, for the first time since Hyde’s inception, the U.S House passed a budget without this harmful policy.

The House vote marks a bold rejection of decades of injustice against women, people of color and people living paycheck to paycheck, among others targeted by Hyde. Now, we turn our attention to the U.S. Senate.

The push to end Hyde is happening at a pivotal moment. As a country, we are finally beginning to critically reckon with policies that hurt people of color, whether they shape our chances of surviving a pandemic or an interaction with police. Bans on abortion coverage are driven by the same forces motivating state-sanctioned violence and even voting restrictions. Each aims to control the lives of Black, Brown and other people of color, especially...