Thread by @51for51

History lesson!

For all but two years since 1989, Congress has consistently prohibited D.C. from using its locally raised funds to pay for abortion care for Medicaid recipients through a rule known as the Dornan Amendment.

This means D.C. Medicaid recipients cannot use their health insurance for their abortions, and are forced to pay out of pocket. Raising that money, usually over $500, can take a long time and D.C. residents have to delay paying other bills like rent.

Roe v. Wade preserved our legal right to an abortion but there is no real right if you can’t afford it.

Statehood means autonomy for D.C. residents who have abortions.

D.C. nonprofits work to fill in the gap, but funding is always an issue. Lower-income D.C. residents don’t always have access to the full bodily autonomy guaranteed to all Americans by Roe v. Wade.

In 2014, D.C. City Council passed the Reproductive Health Non-Discrimination Amendment Act of 2014 to protect workers from discrimination by an employer based on individuals’ private health decisions, including having an abortion or using birth control.

But wait there's more…

Texas Senator Ted Cruz convinced then-House Speaker John Boehner to vote to overturn the D.C. law.

It was the first time in 35 years the House voted to outright overturn the will of the people of D.C. — and it was an effort driven by one senator from over 1,000 miles away.

Was that history lesson as infuriating to read as it was to tweet?

Then channel that rage by demanding we reimagine Roe by calling for #DCStatehood!

Abortion access depends on it.