Abortion is health care.

Repeal the Helms Amendment.

Abortion is health care, everywhere

THE WORLD’S MOST VULNERABLE PEOPLE are harmed by a U.S. law that restricts funding for safe abortion services—the Helms Amendment. This amendment bars U.S. foreign assistance funds from being used for abortion services. The way that the law is interpreted and implemented denies people their reproductive rights and deprives them of the care they want and need. It reduces the availability of safe, legal abortion, denies health-care providers life-saving equipment and training and censors critical health information.

Every year, roughly 35 million women and girls around the world have unsafe abortions, and millions suffer injuries and disabilities as a result. The Helms Amendment puts lives at risk; when people can’t make their own reproductive health decisions, and have limited access to vital health care, this means dire consequences for their health. This law has plagued abortion care in low- and middle-income countries for nearly five decades. If the Helms Amendment was repealed, there could be approximately 19 million fewer unsafe abortions and 17,000 fewer maternal deaths each year.

It’s time to repeal this policy and end the harm it has caused

Abortion is essential, now more than ever during the coronavirus outbreak. And it is past time to end policies like Helms that are anti-rights and rooted in racism and colonialism. U.S. assistance programs should provide access to quality, comprehensive sexual and reproductive health care services for all people, including access to safe, legal and accessible abortion care.

Photo by Daniel Swartz for Ipas

The Abortion is Health Care Everywhere Act was introduced in the U.S. Senate by Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), and bill co-leads Senators Blumenthal (D-CT), Hirono (D-HI), Duckworth (D-IL) and Smith (D-MN) on July 27, 2022 with 20 original cosponsors. The bill was reintroduced in the U.S. House of Representatives on March 9, 2021, in commemoration of International Women’s Day, by Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) and bill co-leads Representatives Barbara Lee (D-CA), Jackie Speier (D-CA), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), Diana DeGette (D-CO), Norma Torres (D-CA) and Marilyn Strickland (D-WA). This historic legislation removes the Helms Amendment from statute and replaces it with proactive language stating that U.S. funding shall be used to provide comprehensive reproductive health-care services and information, including abortion services, training, and equipment.

The bill was introduced for the first time ever in the U.S. House of Representatives on July 29, 2020 and in just 2 months the Abortion is Health Care Everywhere Act secured over 110 cosponsors in Congress. Currently, the bill enjoys the support of over 180 co-sponsors in the 117th Congress and support continues to grow each day for this critical legislation.

Reproductive rights are human rights.
Abortion is health care.
Repeal the Helms Amendment.