Media Center: Press Release

“After 30 years of discrimination, it is time for Congress to address this issue and ensure that all Americans can get the healthcare they want and deserve.”

New York, NY—Physicians who practiced medicine before abortion was legalized today called on Congress to repeal the Hyde Amendment.  In a statement released by Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health (PRCH), the doctors recall the suffering they saw women endure as a result of illegal abortion: “We saw too many families mourning the loss of wives and mothers who died because they could not support another child and were not allowed safe abortions.”

The statement, included below, also recalls the passage of the Hyde Amendment several years after the Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion.  By preventing the use of federal funds to pay for abortion, Hyde “forced our poorest patients back where they were before Roe—unable to afford safe medical procedures, despite the fact that abortion was legal.”  The Hyde Amendment has continued to block federal funding for abortion for the past 30 years.  PRCH is part of a coalition calling for repeal of this legislation.

The physicians who signed this statement all took part in Voices of Choice, a film that details the experiences of doctors and other activists who worked to legalize abortion in the United States.  More information about the project, and excerpts from each participant’s interviews, is available here.

Physicians Who Practiced Before Roe v. Wade Call on Congress to Repeal Hyde Amendment

In January 1973, we cheered the Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion in the United States.  As doctors, we had seen hundreds of women suffer from unsafe, illegal abortions, especially those who could not afford to travel to countries or states where abortion was legal.  We saw too many families mourning the loss of wives and mothers who died because they could not support another child and were not allowed safe abortions.

For doctors like us, Roe promised a new era when women could decide for themselves whether and when to have children.  Our patients would no longer face the agonizing dilemma of having children they couldn’t afford to raise, or risking their lives with unsafe back-alley procedures.

Sadly, the promise of Roe didn’t last very long.  In 1976, Congress used the Hyde Amendment to block federal funding for abortion.  This new law forced our poorest patients back where they were before Roe—unable to afford safe medical procedures, despite the fact that abortion was legal.  Once again, women with the means for a legal abortion stayed healthy, while those who could not pay suffered.

Over the last 30 years, America’s poorest women have been unfairly penalized by Hyde.  Many struggle to pay for doctors’ visits and medications that can keep them healthy; one in five American women of reproductive age has no health insurance.

Congress has promised to make healthcare more affordable, but abortion has not been part of this conversation.  We are aware that abortion is a polarizing issue, but we have seen the real-life impact of the Hyde Amendment: a two-tiered system of healthcare whereby women with money can get good care, and poor women are still doing without.  After 30 years of discrimination, it is time for Congress to address this issue and ensure that all Americans have access to the healthcare they want and deserve.  

On this 34th anniversary of the Roe decision, we urge our elected officials to repeal the Hyde Amendment and allow all women the freedom to decide if and when they will have children.

Curtis Boyd, MD
Ben Celniker, MD
Wendy Chavkin, MD, MPH
Eugene Glick, MD, MPH
Sadja Greenwood , MD
Mildred S. Hanson, MD
Richard Hausknecht, MD
Harry S. Jonas, MD
Miriam McCreary, MD
Don Sloan, MD
Robert Tamis, MD

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