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RES‐2020‐065  <br /> <br />ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br /> <br />A RESOLUTION CALLING FOR REPEAL OF THE HYDE AMENDMENT <br />AND SUPPORTING THE RIGHT OF ALL WOMEN TO SAFE AND <br />COMPREHENSIVE HEALTH CARE <br /> <br />WHEREAS, a person’s bodily autonomy and freedom to make reproductive decisions are <br />vital to their safety, well-being, economic opportunity, and ability to participate equally in <br />society; and <br /> <br />WHEREAS, access to safe, affordable, and comprehensive reproductive health care is a <br />basic human right and is important for the overall physical and mental health of women <br />and of transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals who can become pregnant; <br />and <br /> <br />WHEREAS, every person has a right to comprehensive, evidence-based information <br />about the full range of reproductive health care options, and should have access to <br />comprehensive reproductive health care throughout their lives, regardless of income, <br />race/ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, ability, immigration status, <br />geographic circumstance, criminal history, and insurance-coverage status; and <br /> <br />WHEREAS, in 1973, the US Supreme Court, in a landmark decision, ruled in Roe v Wade <br />that the US Constitution safeguards a woman’s ability to make her own personal medical <br />decisions about whether and when to have children; and <br /> <br />WHEREAS, in the Whole Woman’s Health v Hellerstedt decision in 2016, the US <br />Supreme Court reaffirmed the constitutional right to access abortion; and <br /> <br />WHEREAS, these decisions have saved lives, strengthened families, and enabled <br />women to participate more fully in society, and we must guard against efforts to erode the <br />availability and affordability of abortion and to undermine the protections affirmed by Roe <br />v Wade; and <br /> <br />WHEREAS, the Hyde Amendment, passed by Congress on September 30, 1976, has for <br />42 years impeded access to abortion for low-income women enrolled in Medicaid; and <br /> <br />WHEREAS, North Carolina law imposes limits on insurance coverage of abortion in the <br />state Medicaid program; and <br /> <br />WHEREAS, approximately 400,000 women in North Carolina (including more than 2,000 <br />in Orange County) who qualify for insurance coverage from the federal or state <br />government – including local, school district, state, and federal employees; veterans and <br />military service members; Native Americans who use the Indian Health Service; Peace <br />Corps members; persons incarcerated in federal prisons; and those who purchase <br />insurance through the Affordable Care Act – are subject to bans on insurance coverage <br />of abortion; and <br />2