Quick Update on the D.C. Abortion Ban

On Monday, NARAL Pro-Choice America President Nancy Keenan co-authored a blog post on RH Reality Check with Tiffany Reed, president of the D.C. Abortion Fund. In it, Keenan and Reed discussed recent action to remove - and then reinstate - an onerous obstacle to a woman's ability to access safe, legal abortion:

The House Appropriations Committee is taking action on a bill tonight that allocates funds for Washington, D.C.--and there is good news for America's pro-choice majority.

The bill follows President Obama's lead (and NARAL Pro-Choice America's recommendation) to lift the ban on D.C.'s ability to use locally raised funds for abortion services. Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton, the city's elected representative in Congress, fully supports this measure.

As the D.C. Abortion Fund can attest, this ban's effect on women is devastating. Women have had to sell their cars, get high-interest predatory loans (not even an option anymore), pawn wedding rings or other jewelry, sell their children's toys, go without electricity, or even risk eviction--all to pay for the abortion care they need.

Read many more heart-breaking stories for examples of what can happen when access to affordable reproductive health care is out of reach for women.

Historians will note that an anti-choice Congress imposed the ban 15 years ago--and anti-abortion politicians are not going to let this symbol of interference in D.C.'s local affairs go down without a fight.

Anti-choice members of the committee (Reps. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.) and Lincoln Davis (D-Tenn.), we are talking about you) are trying to reinsert the ban as this bill moves forward--and they could make their first attempt when the committee meets this Tuesday night.

Tiahrt and Davis' allies on anti-choice blogs and news sites already are manufacturing outrage over this positive development for women's health and safety in the nation's capital.

Well, good news! The House Appropriations Committee defeated this anti-choice attempt to reinsert the D.C. abortion ban. Keenan said:

We cleared an important hurdle, thanks to the leadership of subcommittee chairman Rep. Jose Serrano and our pro-choice allies on the House Appropriations Committee. As this bill moves to the full House, our activists are ready to work to ensure that Congress upholds the committee's action and thus removes this discriminatory policy that blocks women's access to safe, legal abortion in our nation's capital.

Read more on our website.