Last week, the Biden-Harris administration released their proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2022. The administration took a huge step towards reproductive freedom by removing the Hyde amendment from their budget, the first administration to do so in decades. The Hyde amendment blocks people on Medicaid and those who have federal insurance, such as federal employees and their dependents, and people in federal prison or detention among others, from accessing abortion care. Evidence has clearly demonstrated that the Hyde amendment disproportionately impacts people of color, LGBTQ+ people and immigrants.

The budget also includes funding increases for the Title X program, the federal program that supports family planning clinics serving low-income communities in the U.S, and for international family planning programs, particularly the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). Despite these increases, the proposed funding figures are still not adequate to meet the growing need for family planning and reproductive health services in the US and around the world. This is particularly true for international family planning programs, for which funding has declined over the past decade, even as other global health programs have grown.

Speaking about the release of the President’s first budget, Population Institute President and CEO Kathleen Mogelgaard said: “Eliminating the harmful Hyde amendment was long overdue, and we are happy to see that the Biden-Harris administration kept their promise to remove it. But there are additional important steps to take toward the goal of reproductive freedom for people in the US and around the globe, including greater funding to meet growing needs for international family planning and elimination of the Helms amendment, which sets up harmful obstacles to the delivery of vital reproductive health care in communities in low and middle income countries. The fight now moves  to Congress, where we will work alongside our allies to encourage increased investment in sexual and reproductive health and rights at home and abroad.”