Thank you to all who took action this week and called your Senators! The Senate Appropriations Committee met on Thursday, September 15th and passed the District of Columbia spending bill without any additional riders or bans on spending local funds on abortion.
Background: In 2009 Congress finally removed a rider that had prevented the District of Columbia from using its own funds--not federal funds--to pay for abortion for women who qualify for public funding. At the time, Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton applauded this move, noting that the ban had:
"created severe hardships for low-income women in the District. It has singled out the District and its women for unfair and unequal treatment."
Earlier this year, however, the House of Representatives backtracked and reinstated the ban in a midnight budget deal, stranding dozens of women who had appointments the very next day and overruling the authority of DC's own elected officials.
Members of the National Network of Abortion Funds, and in particular the DC Abortion Fund, worked around the clock to make sure the every woman affected got the help that she needed and was able to keep her appointment.
This week the Senate Appropriations Committee met. The Committee could have extended the ban in the 2012 District of Columbia budget.
Thanks to you, they did not.
Thanks to all who took action and called your Senators this week, the bill passed without the ban.
Next steps: We will pay close attention to this bill as it makes its way to the Senate floor and keep you posted when any action is needed.
