Orange County NC Website
9 <br /> BOCC Chair Penny Rich submitted a petition at the Board's October 6, 2020 <br /> Business meeting proposing that the Board consider a resolution regarding the repeal of the <br /> Hyde Amendment. <br /> RES-2020-065 <br /> ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <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 /> 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 /> 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 /> 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 /> 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 /> 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 /> 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 /> WHEREAS, the Hyde Amendment, passed by Congress on September 30, 1976, has for <br /> 44 years impeded access to abortion for low-income women enrolled in Medicaid; and <br /> WHEREAS, North Carolina law imposes limits on insurance coverage of abortion in the <br /> state Medicaid program; and <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 /> WHEREAS, the impact of health inequities and obstacles to quality health care fall <br />