Meaningful and real access to abortion will only come full circle when every woman has insurance coverage for abortion care if she needs it and can make decisions about her reproductive health, free from political interference. With today being the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, it is crucial we recognize and address the barriers that so many women continue to face all these years later.

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Due to the “no public funding for abortions” mantra, since 1976, the Hyde Amendment has denied federal Medicaid coverage of it and a shrinking number of state Medicaid cover it. So 1 in 4 women who would have had a Medicaid-funded procedure if funds had been available are unable to obtain one. That’s too many low-income women who essentially had their choice taken away due to their income level.

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We live with a deep and persistent societal tolerance for the use of women’s bodies by others for their own purposes, profit, political gain and entertainment. Cameras and harassment are the tip of an iceberg of male regulation of women’s bodies and behaviors. Legislation, based on a cultural acceptance of women’s bodies as public resources, is much more pernicious.

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I remember the first time I heard Sandra Fluke tell the story of her her friend who needed contraception to manage her painful polycystic ovary syndrome. I remember why she spoke in the first place – because women still live through harsh realities, realities we have the power to change with a voice and a vote.

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