April 15, 2026
The Honorable Susan Collins
Chair
U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations
S-128, The Capitol
Washington, DC 20510
The Honorable Tom Cole
Chair
U.S. House Committee on Appropriations
H-307, The Capitol
Washington, DC 20515
The Honorable Patty Murray
Vice Chair
U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations
S-146A, The Capitol
Washington, DC 20510
The Honorable Rosa DeLauro
Ranking Member
U.S. House Committee on Appropriations
1036 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Chairs Collins and Cole, Vice Chair Murray, and Ranking Member DeLauro:
As organizations committed to ensuring all people can access reproductive health care, including abortion, however much money they make, no matter where they’re from, or whatever their race or gender, we believe that each of us should be able to make decisions about pregnancy and parenting that are best for our families without political interference. However, policymakers have enacted bans on abortion coverage that push this decision out of reach for many, particularly those working to make ends meet. To this end, we urge you to put forth appropriations legislation for Fiscal Year 2027 that does not include bans or restrictions on insurance coverage for abortion.
This year marks fifty years of the Hyde Amendment, and since the first passage in 1976, the appropriations process has been used as a vehicle to systematically deny insurance coverage of abortion. Studies show that when policymakers place restrictions on Medicaid coverage of abortion, it forces one in four poor women to carry an unwanted pregnancy to term. We know that an individual who seeks an abortion, but is denied, is more far likely to fall into poverty than one who is able to get an abortion.
Since the decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization erroneously held that there is no constitutional right to abortion, 20 states have outright banned the procedure or imposed a ban at 6-12 weeks in pregnancy. More than 25 million women aged 15-44 live in states where there are more restrictions imposed than prior to the Dobbs decision. This is nearly 2 in 5 women of reproductive age. As of 2024, 35% or 5.5 million women aged 15-49 who are enrolled in Medicaid live in states where abortion is legal but not covered by the program except in Hyde-allowable circumstances.
This is a crucial moment for Black, Indigenous, and people of color, for women, LGBTQI folks, immigrants, and young people. As the Medicaid program faces deep cuts and reproductive health clinics across the country are closing due to the passage of H.R. 1, these individuals are the most harmed by the Hyde Amendment and other coverage bans. We are fighting for a future in which all health care, including abortion, is affordable, available, and supported for anyone who seeks care — without barriers based on who you are, where you are from, or how much you earn. We are reimagining a world in which each of us makes a living wage and everyone has access to the full-spectrum of reproductive health care, including abortion.
We urge you, as leaders of the Appropriations Committees, to draft and pass federal spending bills that end the shameful legacy of the Hyde Amendment and related abortion coverage restrictions. Now is the time to take action for people working to make ends meet and stop the relentless attacks on abortion coverage.
We ask that FY 2027 appropriations legislation be free of abortion coverage restrictions, including those that impact the following populations: (i) Medicaid, Medicare, and Children’s Health Insurance Program beneficiaries; (ii) federal employees and their dependents; (iii) Peace Corps volunteers; (iv) Native American people (iv) women in federal prisons and detention centers, including those detained for immigration purposes; and (v) low-income people in the District of Columbia through the use of local funds. This includes the Weldon Amendment, which has been attached to Hyde and used to threaten states that seek to ensure abortion coverage. Additionally, we urge you to reject any efforts to add new policy riders that seek to undermine access to health care.
Each of us should be able to make decisions about our health and our futures with dignity and have control over our own economic security. Yet these policies have harmed our families, our communities, and our health for too long. We implore the 119th Congress to lift abortion coverage bans and end the Hyde Amendment, helping ensure comprehensive health care for all Americans, which undeniably includes abortion coverage.
Sincerely,
All* Above All
Abortion Forward
ACCESS REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE
ACLU
Advocates for Trans Equality
Advocates for Trans Equality
Advocates for Youth
AIDS United
American Association of People with Disabilities
American Association of University Women (AAUW)
American Atheists
American Humanist Association
Arkansas Black Gay Men’s Forum
Arkansas Black Gay Men’s Forum
Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network
BKForge: Brooklyn for Reproductive and Gender Equity
California LGBTQ Health and Human Services Network
Center for Biological Diversity
Center for Reproductive Rights
Clearinghouse on Women’s Issues
Courage California
End Rape On Campus
Equality California
Families USA
Feminist Majority
Guttmacher Institute
Ibis Reproductive Health
In Our Own Voice: National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda
Indivisible
Institute for Women’s Policy Research
Institute for Women’s Policy Research
Ipas US
Justice and Joy National Collaborative
Legal Momentum, the Women’s Legal Defense & Education Fund
National Abortion Federation
National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum
National Council of Jewish Women
National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association
National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice
National Network of Abortion Funds
National Organization for Women
National Partnership for Women & Families
National Women’s Law Center Action Fund
National Women’s Political Caucus
Physicians for Reproductive Health
Planned Parenthood Federation of America
Population Institute
Positive Women’s Network-USA
Power to Decide
Power to Decide
Power to Decide
Pregnancy Justice
Reproductive Freedom for All
SIECUS: Sex Ed for Social Change
Silver State Equality
Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine
Southwest Women’s Law Center
UCSF Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health
Union for Reform Judaism
URGE: Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity
Women of Reform Judaism