New Senate Bill Would Allow U.S. Abortion Funding Abroad

Topline

Democratic senators introduced a bill Wednesday to permit U.S. funding for abortions overseas by repealing a decades-old amendment, a longshot effort to prevent thousands of maternal deaths globally and, lawmakers say, send a message to the world in the wake of the Supreme Court repealing Roe v. Wade.

Abortion rights activists demonstrate on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on June 30.

Key Facts

The Abortion Is Health Care Everywhere Act would repeal the Helms Amendment, which was passed in 1973 after Roe v. Wade was decided and prohibits U.S. foreign aid from being “used to pay for the performance of abortions as a method of family planning or to motivate or coerce any person to practice abortions,” even if abortion is legal in that country.

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) introduced the legislation along with Sens. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Tina Smith (D-Minn.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), after Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) introduced the bill in the House last year.

Efforts to repeal the Helms Amendment have gained new significance in light of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, with Schakowsky telling Forbes in an interview lawmakers want “to make it clear that still, when it comes to foreign assistance to women, that the United States can be there for them.”

Repealing the Helms Amendment would “significantly affect access to legal abortion” in many countries, particularly in Africa, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, and the pro-abortion rights Guttmacher Institute projects it would prevent 19 million unsafe abortions and 17,000 maternal deaths each year worldwide.

Reproductive healthcare groups including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, North American Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology and American Society for Reproductive Medicine cheered the bill’s introduction Wednesday, with ACOG president Iffath Abbasi Hoskins calling it a “a bold step forward in the fight for global reproductive freedom and access to lifesaving care.”

The amendment does allow for exceptions in the case of rape, incest and medical emergencies, but Schakowsky told Forbes it effectively stops other countries from using U.S. funds for abortion care entirely, as there’s little clarity around the rule and countries are “fearful” that providing any sort of abortion care would threaten their healthcare funding.

Crucial Quote

Republican senators who have kept the Helms Amendment in place are saying “that they think they know better than … the elected representatives of those countries where abortion is legal,” Smith told Forbes in an interview. “They think they know better [about] what is in the best interest of those women in countries around the world whose lives and stories they’ll never know.” Abortion is legal in at least one circumstance in 48 of 56 countries that receive U.S. global health assistance, the Kaiser Family Foundation reported in January.

Big Number

$641 million. That’s how much repealing the Helms Amendment could save the global health system each year, according to the Guttmacher Institute. The organization projects costs for postabortion care (such as for unsafe abortions) would decrease by 89% in countries where abortion is already legal, while the cost of providing safe abortion services would only increase by 19% if the U.S. government funded them.

Contra

While many Democratic lawmakers, healthcare groups and reproductive rights advocates have stressed the benefits of the Helms Amendment being repealed, many Americans may not be on board. A majority of Americans are broadly supportive of abortion rights, but a Marist poll conducted in January for the Knights of Columbus—which is opposed to abortion—found 73% of Americans either somewhat or strongly oppose taxpayer dollars being used to fund abortions in other countries, including 59% of respondents who self-identified as “pro-choice” and 55% of Democrats.

Chief Critic

Republican lawmakers have long opposed efforts to repeal the Helms Amendment and use taxpayer funds on abortion care. Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas) argued the amendment is a “fundamental protection for the unborn” in July 2021, when the House Appropriations Committee advanced a spending bill that didn’t include it, saying, “It is why global health programs have achieved great bipartisan support and its removal jeopardizes that kind of support in the future.”

Tangent

The Helms Amendment is separate from what’s known as the Mexico City policy or “global gag rule,” which blocks foreign nongovernmental organizations that receive U.S. funds from using any of their own money on abortion care, and can be repealed or reimposed through executive action rather than via Congress. President Joe Biden rescinded the Mexico City policy last year after former President Donald Trump reimposed it. It’s also distinct from the Hyde Amendment, which blocks taxpayer funding from being spent on abortions within the U.S., such as through Medicaid.

What To Watch For

The bill is not expected to pass the Senate, given it would need 60 votes to succeed and Republicans are unlikely to support the legislation. “The numbers are what the numbers are in the United States Senate, but that should not stop us from talking about this important issue and bringing attention to it,” Smith told Forbes.

Key Background

The Abortion Is Health Care Everywhere Act’s introduction in the Senate is part of a broader push by Democratic lawmakers to move forward with abortion legislation in the wake of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, even if this push remains unlikely to succeed. The House has already passed bills that would codify abortion rights into federal law—for the second time—and protect Americans’ rights to travel across state lines for an abortion in the wake of the ruling, though both bills are expected to fail in the Senate.

New Senate Bill Would Allow U.S. Abortion Funding Abroad—Here’s Why It Matters