Amanda Dennis is an Associate at Ibis Reproductive Health. She received her Doctorate in Public Health from Boston University. Dr. Dennis also holds a Master’s degree in Bioethics from the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Arts from Hampshire College. Prior to joining Ibis, she worked as a counselor at an ambulatory surgery center specializing in second-trimester abortion care and as a counselor at a domestic violence shelter. Currently, she directs Ibis’s research on the Hyde Amendment, as well as several projects focused on health care reform in the US. Other research interests include reproductive health for women with disabilities and health care disparities.
For nearly four decades, the Hyde Amendment has limited the abilities of low-income women to implement timely decisions about ending a pregnancy.
January 22, 2012, marks the 39th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. Reflecting on this, I am reminded of an interview with a woman who, when asked what she thought about the fact that Medicaid would not cover her abortion care said, “I wish women had a right [to Medicaid coverage of abortion]…. I think women should have that option…. There’s a lot of things to having a right to choose.”
In Massachusetts, we have already learned some lessons about why it is important to include contraception at no additional cost.
Like bills now moving through Congress, health care reform in Massachusetts sought to reduce the number of uninsured. But recent research shows that many of those now “insured” still can’t access care or afford essential prescriptions.
