Abortion is health care.

Repeal the Helms Amendment.

Abortion is health care, everywhere

The United States has a major role to play in the protection of human rights and reproductive freedom. Yet, for 50 years, the Helms Amendment has diminished that role and plagued abortion care in low-to middle-income countries.

The Helms Amendment is a U.S. policy that prohibits the use of foreign assistance funds to pay for abortion “as a method of family planning.” Yet, in practice, it has been applied as a complete ban on the use for funds for abortion-related services and information. This makes the United States the only nation that singles out an essential health service in its foreign aid, stigmatizes it, and imposes an ideological viewpoint on programs that are meant to help millions of people.

Combined with this 50-year-old policy, and the Supreme Court’s ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, the United States has bucked a global trend of liberalization and joined a handful of autocratic countries that have little regard for human rights. In the last 30 years, 60 countries have changed their abortion laws, with only four tightening restrictions, including the United States. The ripple effect of the fall of Roe can be felt around the world, and only makes the harms of the Helms amendment worse.

Drew Petrimoulx/Shutterstock.com

The Abortion is Health Care Everywhere Act was reintroduced in the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives on March 22, 2023.  The bill was reintroduced in the 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) with 24 original cosponsors. The bill was reintroduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) and bill co-leads Representatives Barbara Lee (D-CA), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), Diana DeGette (D-CO), Norma Torres (D-CA) and Marilyn Strickland (D-WA) with over 150 original cosponsors. 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 154 Representatives and 24 Senators as co-sponsors in the 118th Congress and support continues to grow each day for this critical legislation.

Access to abortion is a human right.
Abortion is health care.

Repeal the Helms Amendment.

The Abortion is Health Care Everywhere Act  is supported and endorsed by a diverse coalition of over 185 organizations.

AFRD Georgia

AIDS United
Aidsfonds
Alianza Americas logo
Alliance for Justice
American Humanist Association
American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM)
California Latinas for Reproductive Justice (CLRJ)
Center for International Policy

Center on Reproductive Rights and Justice (CRRJ)

Creative Community League
Ebenezer Church PHX
Ebenezer Church – PHX
Every Mother Counts
Every Mother Counts
Feminist Majority
Forward Together
Freedom Network USA
Freedom Network USA
Freedom Network USA
FCAA Logo

Global Network of Black People working in HIV

Global Woman P.E.A.C.E. Foundation

Global Woman P.E.A.C.E. Foundation

Health GAP
Heartland Alliance International logo
hispanic federation
Human Rights Campaign
IKAR
Ipas
IPPF WHR

Jacobs Institute of Women’s Health

Jewish Community Action
Keep Abortion Safe
Keshet
LastMile4D
The Lawyering Project logo
Legal Voice
MADRE
MenEngage Alliance
Metropolitan Community Churches, Global Justice Institute
Mississippi in Action
MSI Reproductive Choices
National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum (NAPAWF)
National Association Social Workers
National Birth Equity Collaborative logo
National Center for Lesbian RIghts
National Partnership for Women & Families
National Women's Law Center
North American MenEngage NAMEN
Oklahoma Call for Reproductive Justice
Oklahoma Call for Reproductive Justice

Open Society Policy Center

OutRight Action International
Oxfam America
Pathfinder International
Pilgrim United Church of Christ
Population Council
National Advocates for Pregnant Women
PSI logo

Prevention Access Campaign – U=U

Provide

Radiant International

Real Inspiration Ministries Inc.

Reproaction Education Fund
She's the First
The Center for Sexual Pleasure and Health
SIECUS: Sex Ed for Social Change
SlutwalkNOLA logo
Society for Humanistic Judaism
T'ruah
T'ruah
The Coalition of Labor Union Women
The Fellowship of Affirming Ministries
The Good Table United Church of Christ
The International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights
Tivnu: Building Justice
Together for Girls
ultraviolet
UUWF logo
United States of Women USOW
Urgent Action Fund for Women's Human Rights
Win Without War
Wisconsin Alliance for Women's Health
Women Deliver
Women Have Options / Ohio
Women's Lobby of Colorado WLCO logo
WV FREE