The bill would allow U.S. funding for abortions overseas if the amendment were to be repealed.
Activists demonstrate on Capitol Hill in D.C.
The Helms Amendment prohibits U.S. foreign aid from being used to pay for abortions if they are used as a method of family planning.
The legislation was introduced by Sen. Booker along with four other senators and one congressman.
Lawmakers want to make it clear that the United States can be there for women even after the Supreme Court overturns the Helms Amendment.
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, repeal of the Helms Amendment would affect access to legal abortion in many countries, especially in Africa.
The introduction of the bill was applauded by reproductive healthcare groups including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
The amendment allows for exceptions in the case of rape, incest and medical emergencies, but it effectively stops other countries from using U.S. funds for abortion care.
Smith said in an interview that the Republican senators who have kept the Helms Amendment in place think they know better than the elected representatives of countries where abortion is legal. They think they know more about what is in the best interest of women in countries around the world. In 48 of 56 countries that receive U.S. global health assistance, abortion is legal, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
$656 million. The Guttmacher Institute says that repeal of the Helms Amendment could save the global health system each year. If the U.S. government funded safe abortion services, the cost of providing them would increase by 19%, but the cost of post abortion care would decrease by 89%.
Many Americans may not agree with the benefits of the repeal of the Helms Amendment. A majority of Americans are in favor of abortion rights, but a survey done in January for the Knights of Columbus found that a majority of Americans oppose taxpayer dollars being used to fund abortions in other countries.
Efforts to repeal the Helms Amendment have been opposed by Republican lawmakers. The amendment is a fundamental protection for the unborn in July 2021, when the House Appropriations Committee advanced a spending bill without it.
The Helms Amendment is different from the Mexico City policy, which blocks foreign organizations that receive U.S. funds from using any of their own money on abortion care. The Mexico City policy was abolished by President Joe Biden last year. The Hyde Amendment blocks taxpayer funding from being spent on abortions in the U.S.
The bill won't pass the Senate due to the fact that Republicans are unlikely to support it. Smith told Forbes that even though the numbers are in the United States Senate, they should not stop them from talking about it.
Even if this push remains unlikely, the introduction of the Abortion Is Health Care Everywhere Act is part of a broader push by Democrats to move forward with abortion legislation. The House has already passed bills codifying abortion rights into federal law for the second time, and they are expected to fail in the Senate.
There are abortion laws in countries that receive U.S. global health assistance.
There is a case for ending the global gag rule.
Under Biden, how U.S. aid for reproductive health could be changed.
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