CRR Applauds D.C. Leadership for Rejecting Budget Autonomy-for-Abortion Coverage Deal

(PRESS RELEASE) In an important next step in the District of Columbia’s long-fought battle for budget autonomy, Representative Darrell Issa (R-CA) highlighted his intent to move forward with a bill that allows the District to more easily and simply spend its own money at a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee markup session this morning.  That bill included a permanent ban on the ability of D.C. to spend its own funds on abortion services for low-income women.

Yesterday, D.C. lawmakers Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, Mayor Vincent Gray, and Council Chair Kwame Brown rejected the current version of this effort, stating that the views of others should not prevail over the views of D.C. residents who last year voted to approve funding abortion services.  Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights said in response:“The Center for Reproductive Rights commends D.C.’s leadership for standing up for low-income women and their right to have the same access to constitutionally protected medical services as other women. “We strongly support the District’s leadership in refusing the bait, and encourage them to continue to hold the line to ensure that poor women in the capital have access to the full range of reproductive health services.