The Heart of the Matter: Public Funding Of Abortion for Poor Women in the United States

12 This year marks the 34th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that provided constitutional protection for abortion. In its 7-2 ruling, the Supreme Court recognized a woman’s constitutional right to decide, in consultation with her physician, whether to terminate a pregnancy. This year also marks the 30th anniversary of the implementation of the Hyde Amendment, which bans federal funding for abortion in all but the most extreme circumstances. Named after longtime Rep. Henry Hyde (R-IL), who retired in 2006, the measure primarily affects Medicaid, the joint federal-state program that finances the provision of health services to eligible Americans deemed too poor to afford care on their own. More than seven million women of reproductive age—12% of all U.S. women in that age-group— are enrolled in the Medicaid program.