LAS VEGAS (KLAS)– Attorney General Aaron D. Ford announced that he has joined a coalition with 18 other attorneys general urging congressional leadership to enact protections for equitable access to reproductive health care.
On Friday, the coalition sent a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer outlining the protections they support. The letter argues that without codifying access to reproductive health care into law, demographics that are historically oppressed will be disproportionately harmed if the Supreme Court overturns the protections of Roe v. Wade.
“The right to reproductive health care is under sustained attack, and we must be proactive in taking steps to protect this fundamental right,” said Ford. “Congress must take action to ensure that access to reproductive health care is equally available to all.”
In the letter, the attorneys general asks Congress to take these steps:
- Eliminating the Hyde Amendment, which bans the use of Medicare and Medicaid funds from being used to cover abortion, from the federal budget;
- Passing legislation requiring commercial insurance plans cover abortion care if they also cover maternity benefits;
- Eliminating the rider in the appropriations bill that prohibits the District of Columbia from using local funds for abortion services;
- Preempting state restrictions on access to abortion-relation medications approved by the FDA;
- Strengthening data privacy laws to protect the privacy of people seeking reproductive care; and
- Expressly permitting the use of the Postal Service to distribute FDA-approved abortion-related medications
In addition, the attorneys general also urged the Senate to pass the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act arguing that state laws that criminalize abortion could also impact voting rights in states that disenfranchise people with felony convictions.