HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda - 10-20-20; 4-c - Resolution Regarding the Hyde Amendment
ORANGE COUNTY
BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT
Meeting Date:October 20, 2020
Action Agenda
Item No. 4-c
SUBJECT: Resolution Regarding the Hyde Amendment
DEPARTMENT: Board of Commissioners
ATTACHMENT(S):
Draft Resolution
INFORMATION CONTACT:
BOCC Chair Penny Rich, (919) 245-
2130
PURPOSE: To consider a proposed Resolution Calling For Repeal of the Hyde Amendment and
Supporting the Right of All Women To Safe and Comprehensive Health Care.
BACKGROUND: BOCC Chair Penny Rich submitted a petition at the Board’s October 6, 2020
Business meeting proposing that the Board consider a resolution regarding the repeal of the Hyde
Amendment.
Chair Rich has provided the attached draft resolution for Board consideration.
FINANCIAL IMPACT: There is no financial impact associated with this item.
SOCIAL JUSTICE IMPACT: The following Orange County Social Justice Goals are applicable
to this item:
GOAL: FOSTER A COMMUNITY CULTURE THAT REJECTS OPPRESSION AND
INEQUITY
The fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race or color;
religious or philosophical beliefs; sex, gender or sexual orientation; national origin or ethnic
background; age; military service; disability; and familial, residential or economic status.
GOAL: ENSURE ECONOMIC SELF-SUFFICIENCY
The creation and preservation of infrastructure, policies, programs and funding necessary
for residents to provide shelter, food, clothing and medical care for themselves and their
dependents.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT: There is no Orange County Environmental Responsibility Goal
impact associated with this item.
RECOMMENDATION(S): The Manager recommends that the Board consider the proposed
resolution, and if approved, authorize the Chair to sign the resolution.
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RES‐2020‐065
ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
A RESOLUTION CALLING FOR REPEAL OF THE HYDE AMENDMENT
AND SUPPORTING THE RIGHT OF ALL WOMEN TO SAFE AND
COMPREHENSIVE HEALTH CARE
WHEREAS, a person’s bodily autonomy and freedom to make reproductive decisions are
vital to their safety, well-being, economic opportunity, and ability to participate equally in
society; and
WHEREAS, access to safe, affordable, and comprehensive reproductive health care is a
basic human right and is important for the overall physical and mental health of women
and of transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals who can become pregnant;
and
WHEREAS, every person has a right to comprehensive, evidence-based information
about the full range of reproductive health care options, and should have access to
comprehensive reproductive health care throughout their lives, regardless of income,
race/ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, ability, immigration status,
geographic circumstance, criminal history, and insurance-coverage status; and
WHEREAS, in 1973, the US Supreme Court, in a landmark decision, ruled in Roe v Wade
that the US Constitution safeguards a woman’s ability to make her own personal medical
decisions about whether and when to have children; and
WHEREAS, in the Whole Woman’s Health v Hellerstedt decision in 2016, the US
Supreme Court reaffirmed the constitutional right to access abortion; and
WHEREAS, these decisions have saved lives, strengthened families, and enabled
women to participate more fully in society, and we must guard against efforts to erode the
availability and affordability of abortion and to undermine the protections affirmed by Roe
v Wade; and
WHEREAS, the Hyde Amendment, passed by Congress on September 30, 1976, has for
42 years impeded access to abortion for low-income women enrolled in Medicaid; and
WHEREAS, North Carolina law imposes limits on insurance coverage of abortion in the
state Medicaid program; and
WHEREAS, approximately 400,000 women in North Carolina (including more than 2,000
in Orange County) who qualify for insurance coverage from the federal or state
government – including local, school district, state, and federal employees; veterans and
military service members; Native Americans who use the Indian Health Service; Peace
Corps members; persons incarcerated in federal prisons; and those who purchase
insurance through the Affordable Care Act – are subject to bans on insurance coverage
of abortion; and
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WHEREAS, the impact of health inequities and obstacles to quality health care fall
hardest on low-income women, women of color, immigrant and undocumented women,
survivors of domestic violence, transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals, and
young women; and
WHEREAS, public health insurance programs should cover all of an individual’s options
when they are facing pregnancy and other reproductive health care decisions, so that
they may make real decisions about what is best for them and their family, and so that
their economic status and source of insurance coverage do not affect important health
care decisions or access;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Orange County Board of
Commissioners calls for the repeal of the Hyde Amendment in this forty-third year of its
enactment; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Board of Commissioners encourages Governor
Roy Cooper to support these and other measures to protect the rights of women and
transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals everywhere to unhindered access to
safe and comprehensive reproductive health care.
This the 20th day of October, 2020.
________________________________
Penny Rich, Chair
Orange County Board of Commissioners
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