Custom «Policy for Abortion» Essay Paper

After the legalization of abortion in 1973, abortion was covered by the federal Medicaid program as a component of a normal medical care (National Networks of Abortion Funds, 2012). The Medicaid program covered more than one third of the entire abortions carried out in the United States during the initial period of legalized abortion. It was obvious that federal Medicaid paying for abortions was important especially for women who earn low incomes to enable them to establish appropriate lives as they desired (National Networks of Abortion Funds, 2012).

The Hyde amendment was passed by the Congress in 1976. It prohibited abortion to be covered by federal Medicaid; the regulation was effected in 1977 (National Networks of Abortion Funds, 2012). In 1980, the United States Supreme Court declared that women constitutional rights on Medicaid were not violated by the Hyde Amendment. It was however certain that the Hyde Amendment aimed at making it hard for women earning low incomes to obtain the abortions they required. Actually, when the Hyde Amendment was introduced to the House of Representative by Henry Hyde, he put forth that it was a hindrance for enabling women to obtain abortions, and aiming at women benefiting on Medicaid was just the beginning (National Networks of Abortion Funds, 2012).

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Since 1976, the Amendment has been passed into regulation in different forms. Various exemptions to the Hyde Amendment have been attached by the Senate including incest and rape, when the mother’s life is in danger, and in circumstances, where physical and severe health harm is projected. In 1981, the Supplemental Appropriations and Recession Act 1981 was enacted into law, and it stated that: "Money that is appropriated under the mentioned Act shall not be employed to cover for abortion apart from when the mother’s life would be put in danger if the pregnancy was not terminated" (National Committee for a Human Life Amendment, 2008).

In 1993, the wording of the Hyde Amendment was modified and rewritten in a novel format, expanding the exemptions to cover various actions such as incest and rape. Therefore, the wording of the Amendment was converted into law:

Money that is appropriated under the mentioned Act shall not be spent for any kind of abortion apart from when the same is communicated to the concerned officials or federal entity concerned with the appropriation of the funds under the Act and when abortion is required to save the mother’s life or that incest or rape were the causes of the pregnancy (National Committee for a Human Life Amendment, 2008).

Some individuals who oppose the Hyde Amendment argue that it was implemented in order to deny the minority and poor women their constitutional rights of carrying out abortions (Fried, 2006). Currently, approximately 15 in the United States fund abortion with their money whereas about 35 states do not. This is perceived to be part of Medicaid programs (National Networks of Abortion Funds, 2012). Besides, various laws have been enacted that avert federal care programs to pay for abortion for various persons including federal employees, disabled women, Peace Corps volunteers, military women, federal prisoners, and native women who depend on Indian Health Services for their healthcare (National Networks of Abortion Funds, 2012). The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is another novel reform law enacted in 2010 aimed at restricting abortion.

The present wording of the Hyde Amendment as stipulated in the Consolidated Appropriations Act 2008 that was enacted into law in 2007 isSection 507 of the Act: "Money that is appropriated under the mentioned Act together with money in the trust fund shall not be used for abortion," Section 508 of the Act establishes various limitations: "If rape or incest are the causes of the pregnancy or in a circumstance whereby a woman goes through a physical injury, physical disorder, or physical illness, encompassing if her life is endangered by the pregnancy and failure to perform an abortion may result to death." In case of any one of these, abortion may be funded by funds that are appropriated under the Act.

Modification of the Wording of The Legislation

However, the wording of the legislation may be modified in order to permit women earning low incomes, military women, federal prisoners, and women on disability insurance amongst others to be capable of using government insurances and Medicaid to cover abortion in such circumstances as when there is a life endangering condition, fetal abnormality, or when women do not need to give birth to the child.

The wording of the legislation would be modified as follows:

Money that is appropriated under the mentioned Act together with money in the trust fund shall be used to pay for abortion in such circumstances as when the pregnancy is as a result of incest or rape when the life of the mother is endangered by the pregnancy, when there is fetal abnormality, or if the woman desires to terminate a pregnancy due to reasons well-know to her. Besides, government insurances and federal Medicaid will cover all women including women on disability insurance, women earning low incomes, military women, and federal prisoners including other categories of women.

The Stipulation

Nevertheless, although abortion will be covered by the government for all reasons and to all women, the following stipulation has been put forth in order to prevent women from using abortion as a contraceptive and under the government cost:

The government will pay for abortion for all women regardless of the reason why they want to perform it, once in a time frame of five years. However, in cases, where abortion is as a result of incest, rape, where the life of the mother is in danger, or in case of fetal abnormality, the government will cover such abortions after one abortion has been carried out within the given time frame.

Religious Groups Supporting Pro-Choice Beliefs

It is obvious that most of pro-life positions have been based on religious ideology. However, there are many groups that support the pro-choice and are con the Hyde Amendment; therefore, they  would support the modified policy. Such faith groups as the United Church of Christ, encompass the United Methodist Church, the Episcopal Church, the Unitarian Universalist Association, and the Presbyterian Church do support the pro-choice movement.

These groups support that fact that it is up to a woman, it is considered her right, to decide whether to opt for a legal and safe abortion, not paying attention to the ability to pay, and denying women the following right is inadmissible. The prohibition to fund abortion entails a specific moral or religious perception for women relying on the federal funded care. It is however true that funding abortion does not force or encourage women to carry out abortions; nevertheless, refusing to pay for abortions forces the majority of women to keep their pregnancies. Fair funding for abortions means that women will be given their rights to choose how to handle pregnancies as they are the ones who shall live with the repercussions of their decisions.

Problem Identification

Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by loss or destruction of the fetus before birth. An abortion may be spontaneous or induced. It is depicted as an intentionally induced miscarriage. The procedure may be carried out when a chemical substance, external force, or a surgical intervention are applied to. In the nowadays world, when abortion is induced according to the law, it is embraced to be the safest medical process.

  When abortion is carried out by a person without medical training, it may lead to terrible consequences. Annually, such illegal abortions result in 70 thousand maternal deaths and   5 million disabilities worldwide.  Abortion is the most controversial issues nowadays. All of the civilized societies rate the loss of human life as serious. Legalized abortion opponents believe human life to begin at conception, and abortion to be the intentional killing of a human being. A person’s position regarding the sophisticated moral, ethical, biological, legal as well as philosophical issues surrounding abortions is mostly linked to one’s value system (U.S. Public Policy: Current Issues). The sentiments of abortion may be demonstrated as a combination of beliefs on the morality of abortion, the right extent of authority of government in public policy, as well as the responsibilities and rights of the woman striving to carry out an abortion. As evidenced by studies, religious ethics influences the personal opinion and the debate on abortion at large.

In private and public debate, the people who are pro or con abortion base their arguments on either justification of laws restricting or permitting abortion or the permissibility of induced abortion (U.S. Public Policy: Current Issues). Apparently, the debates on abortion particularly those relating to the laws on abortion are mostly spearheaded by either the 'pro-life' or as 'pro-choice.'

Opponents, known as 'right to life' or 'pro-life' advocates, lobby in favor of the unborn rights. The 'pro-choice' stance that stresses the right of women to terminate or continue a pregnancy (U.S. Public Policy: Current Issues). Supporters of the pro-choice argue about the fact that legal abortion is much safer than illegal one and relieves the social and psychological problems that are associated with bearing an unwanted child.

Who is Affected by the Problem?

Approximately 49 per cent of the pregnancies among the United States women are unwanted. Studies reveal that about half of these pregnancies are terminated by abortion. 31 million abortions took place in the year 2001 (Bartlett et al, 2004). This was a decline form the abortion carried out in 1996 which were 1.36 million. Within the period between 1973 and 2000, over 39 million legal abortions occurred. Women of reproductive age (15-44) are affected by abortions. A majority of the women performing abortions are the whites (53%) (Bartlett et al, 2004). The blacks are around 36 per cent, 8 per cent from another race, and 3 per cent from an unknown race. Annually, two out of 100 women within this age carry out an abortion. Out of the same number, 48 per cent of them have previously carried out an abortion; while 61 per cent have previously given a birth. It is estimated that 43 per cent of the women carry out an abortion before the age of 45 years.

Globally, around 46 million abortions are performed every year. Out of these procedures, only about 20 million are carried out legally. The rest are unsafe abortions due to poor conditions or inadequate provider training (Bartlett et al, 2004).

In 1973, The Supreme Court of the United States made abortion legal in in the Roe v Wade decision. After dropping 25% from a high of over 1.6 million in 1990, the number of abortions performed annually in the U.S. has leveled off at about 1.2 million a year (The New Health Care Reform Legislation). Two independent sources confirm this latest trend: the government’s Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Guttmacher Institute (GI), which was once a special research affiliate of Abortion Chain Planned Parenthood.

Using GI figures through 2008, estimating 1,212,400 abortions for 2009 through 2011, and factoring in the possible 3% undercount GI estimates for its own figures, the total number of abortions performed in the U.S. since 1973 equals 54,559,615 (The New Health Care Reform Legislation). Over the past 20 years, changes have taken place in the technology used in the second trimester abortion. As a result of this and the social issues surrounding abortion, more women are seeking terminations later in the pregnancies.

A grass-roots lobby group of 35 Christian and Jewish organizations known as the Religious Coalition for Abortion Rights was formed two decades ago to counter Catholic and evangelical antiabortion activism.

When Abortion was Identified as a Social Problem

Certainly, abortion is a prevalent social problem that has been a hot topic of debate, activism, and controversy. Some people are in favour of abortion and offer various justifications; whilst the opponents argue that the act is ungodly and is equal to murder. Various countries have passed laws that are in favour of abortion meaning that abortion is legal; while others still prohibit abortion. A number of factors including social attitudes resulted in the push of abortion laws and this commenced in the nineteenth century. One factor was the spreading fear of 'race suicide' among white Protestants. By 1860, the American birthrate of predominantly Catholic immigrant groups far exceeded that of British and Northern European Protestants. Another social factor influencing abortion law in the 19th century was improvements in the status of women. Working class married white women sought to limit the number of children they bore so that the family could more easily exist on the wages of the male, who is the head of the household.

In the late 1960s, conservative members of the National Organization of Women (NOW) were uncomfortable with the issue of abortion at first because of its sexual connotations. At their 1967 national convention, NOW members underwent an intense debate between younger and older women on whether to include reproductive choice as an issue in their Women's Bill of Rights. The younger women prevailed and NOW took an official stance in favor of abortion, which represented an important turning point in the movement.

In 1973, with its consideration of Roe v. Wade, came the opportunity for the United States Supreme Court to make a decisive statement on abortion rights; and the Texas abortion statue was in violation of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The pro-choice faction came to rely more on the federal judiciary to protect abortion rights. The pro-life faction, reeling from its major defeat, concentrated its efforts more on activism and political organization. Since 1989, several states have passed right to know legislation so that women know risk and realities of abortions. Parental involvement laws have been put in place in several states to protect teens from choosing abortions.

Where does Abortion Occur?

Certainly, abortion takes place in every country of the world. Some countries, such as the United States, have legalized abortion; whilst in others, abortion is still illegal. It is apparent that legalizing abortion and putting forth requirements pertaining to the same is important as in such circumstances, low cases of abortion are reported. According to the research, about 42 million abortions take place every year, and roughly 115,000 abortions are performed every day globally (The Center for Bio-Ethical Reform, 2008). Most abortions (83 percent) take place in the developing countries as indicated by the research; whilst 17 percent take place in developed nations (The Center for Bio-Ethical Reform, 2008). In this paper, we will focus on abortion in the United States.

Every year, around 1.37 million abortions are performed in the United States; whilst 3,700 abortions are carried out each day. In 2008, the number of abortions that occurred in the United States was about 1.21 million, compared to the projections of various years including 2002, 2000, and 1996 when the numbers of abortions carried out were 1.29 million, 1.31 million, and 1.36 million respectively. This is indeed a drop in the levels of abortion in 2008 as matched up to the given years. Between the years 1973 and 2008, almost fifty million lawful abortions were carried out in the United States. In 2007, Florida was the state which reported the largest number of legal abortions (91,954), followed by Texas with 80,886; whilst the states with the fewest number of abortions were Wyoming, South Dakota, and North Dakota with nine, 707, and 1,235 respectively. Compared with other developed countries such as Europe and Canada, the United States reported a higher rate of abortion in 2005 but a lower rate compared with such countries as Cuba, and China. Generally, using GI figures through 2008, estimating 1,212,400 abortions for 2009 through 2011, and factoring in the possible 3% undercount GI estimates for its own figures, the total number of abortions performed in the U.S. since 1973 equals 54,559,615.

Why has the Problem Occurred?

A reason why the abortion debate has continued for so long is that society has not yet adopted a common ground of social values where the meaningful dialogue can flourish. Christians talk in terms of moral issues; feminists speak solely in terms of women's real life experiences. The overwhelming majority of all abortions, (95%), are done as a means of birth control. Only 1% are performed because of rape or incest; 1% because of fetal abnormalities, and 3% due to the mother's health problems (Finer, 2005). Conflict theory explains abortion because there are conflicting perspectives that consist of different groups in the society (Finer, 2005).

Alternative Policy Options

Public Health Care Program

It is worth stressing that  the Hyde Amendment, which currently forbids the use of federal funds for abortions except in cases of rape or incest, life endangerment, has guided public funding for abortions under the joint federal-state Medicaid programs for women with a low income. Women’s right advocated for this program is passed (The Center for Bio-Ethical Reform, 2008)).

• the District of Columbia and 32 states and keep to the federal standard and provide abortions in cases of incest, rape, and life endangerment. 3 of the following states provide state funds for abortions in order to prevent long-lasting damage to the woman’s physical health.
• 1 state provides abortions in cases of life endangerment, in obvious federal standard violation.
• 17 states use these funds to provide medically necessary abortions only.
• 4 of these states provide such funds on the voluntary basis.
• 13 of these states do so due to a court order.

Pros:

Low income women are given an opportunity to receive an abortion which occurred under difficult circumstances such as rape, incest, and life endangerment (The Center for Bio-Ethical Reform, 2008).

Medicaid eligible women who would choose abortion carry their pregnancies to term when public funds are not available.

Cons:

Lack of public funding results in women waiting; while they raise funds, postponing their abortions until later in their pregnancies when the costs and health risks can be higher.

Women who cannot afford o paying for abortion may try  self-inducing abortion or illegal abortions that are usually are committed by unskilled practitioners.

The restrictions imposed by the Hyde Amendment unfairly jeopardize the health and wellbeing of low income women and their families (The Center for Bio-Ethical Reform, 2008). It also harms women’s health by denying coverage for abortion services in cases when women have serious physical or mental health concerns.

Alternative Policy

The current restrictive version of the Hyde Amendment offers coverage for abortions only for specific health conditions, such as life endangering ones. However, the amendment does not permit the state to pay for abortion in cases of fetal abnormalities, health exceptions, and if the mother desires to terminate the pregnancy for reasons well-known to her. Some actions should be taken in order to ensure that women are not denied of their constitutional rights.

The National Abortion Federation and other pro-choice organizations should create an economically and politically sustainable coalition of mainstream abortion rights groups and organizations representing diverse communities, such as women of color, low-income women, military women, federal prisoners, women on disability insurance, and immigrant women amongst others. To ensure efficiency, the organizations must work together to put coalitions into the funding agendas of private foundations. Leaders of the National Abortion Rights Movement will be vocally and economically supportive of emerging organizations serving women in diverse communities to help them become sustainable.

The initial objective of the coalitions would be a united effort to encourage legislators to rescind the Hyde Amendment. The petition would entail:

We can no longer abide by the fundamental inequality in access to abortion for poor women due solely to their economic status. For nearly 35 years, women in this country have had the right to obtain the safe, legal abortion care. Yet, the Hyde Amendment has denied low-income American women this fundamental right, and further inequitable restrictions are using Hyde as their justification and foundation (Women Rights Petition;American Civil Liberties Union, 1994).

The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) is purposed to serve as a guideline of the social workers’ daily professional conduct (The National Association of Social). The code comprises of four sections. They include the Preamble, which summarizes the mission and core values of the social workers. The second part provides a highlight of the main functions of the code of ethics and a guideline to addressing ethical issues in the social work practice. They present wide ranging ethical principles on the basis of the core values of the social work practice. Lastly, there are the ethical standards which comprise of particular ethical standards to act as guideline for the conduct of the social workers and to offer a basis for adjudication (The National Association of Social).

The main aim of the social work profession is to improve the wellbeing of  people; to aid to address their basic needs, as well as to empower vulnerable and oppressed ones and those living in poverty. A historic defining aspect of social work is focused on the wellbeing of the individual of this profession in the social context and the society’s wellbeing. In the third section of the NASW Code of Ethics, 1.05 Cultural Competence and Social Diversity part (c):

Social workers should obtain education and seek to understand the nature of social diversity and oppression with respect to race, ethnicity, national origin, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, marital status, political belief, religion, immigrant status, and mental or physical disability( The National Association of Social).

The Social Work profession is a field that assists many different types of populations in our society. Growing up, I was always assisting friends and families with issues they felt were unmanageable. I believe that a social worker must have the moral and similar ethical values in this profession. I am open-minded, respectful of others points of view, and empathic when needed. These are all qualities a social worker must acquire through his / her practice and experience.

Reasons I Have Chosen This Policy:

• Currently I am working for the Division of Social Services and see how many low-income families struggle, and I often see the abuse of unwanted children with DYFS becoming involved.
• I see how the Hyde Amendment is fundamentally unfair by denying poor women the right on abortion simply because they cannot afford it.

As a part of the execution of the alternative policy, measures should be taken to make certain changed that the incidence of abortion is reduced at all costs. This would make sure that unwanted pregnancies which would result in abortion are avoided. In this case, the Pro-choice activists are the main proponents who are in charge of advocating for comprehensive sex education, amplified access to birth control, emergency contraception, and condom use, all of which mitigates the occurrence of abortion. Through this awareness, the majority of women and in particular the vulnerable women whose abortions are not covered by the federal funds, would have sufficient knowledge on how they would prevent unwanted pregnancies, which as a result would lessen the rates of abortions amongst them. This consequently would alleviate the very disadvantages, they face, such as having to retain pregnancies they do not want due to financial predicaments.

Nevertheless, the mentioned options that are intended to prevent unwanted pregnancies are not easily accessible. This is caused by the anti-abortion (pro-life) activists who work equally as hard as the pro-choice activists to make sure that those options are more difficult to access making it seem as though the anti-abortion movement is more concerned with sexual purity rather than abortion. Apparently, if women are not made aware of such measures, the incidence of abortion would continue to increase putting into consideration the amplifying population growth rate especially in the contemporary society, with higher numbers for women than men.

The 2008 Democratic Party Platform endorsed the pro-choice position stating that they unequivocally and strongly support Roe v. Wade and a woman’s right to choose a legal and safe abortion, regardless of ability to pay, and they oppose any efforts to undermine  and weaken that right.

There are a lot of well-known  pro-choice organizations: the NARAL Pro-Choice America, the Planned Parenthood, the National Abortion Federation, the National Organization for Women, and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU,. It is worth mentioning that many pro-life positions are based on the religious ideologies. The United Methodist Church, the Episcopal Church, the United Church of Christ, the Unitarian Universalist Association, and the Presbyterian Church are among the religious groups that support the pro-choice positions and movement.

Some current faith groups support, such as, , , and (Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice). The following groups would therefore support the alternative policy offered for the Hyde Amendment with the aim of ensuring that women enjoy their constitutional rights to choose a legal and safe abortion without any hindrance. Certainly, the individual right is a fundamental factor that should not be denied.

If legislators  rescind the Hyde Amendment, this will assist low income women with lack of financial support who need abortions and will not have to wait when they raise funds, postponing their abortions until later in their pregnancies. It is apparent that the Hyde Amendment stigmatizes and relegates abortion care instead of acknowledging it as a critical aspect in the health of a woman. As a result of this, it deprives off the women earning low income basic reproductive health. The Hyde Amendment is reauthorized annually under the seizures bills for the Department of Labor and the Department of Health and Human Services (Bartlett et al, 2004). The present restraining version of the Hyde Amendment is not inclusive of the abortions in the case of abnormalities in the fetus, the life threatening conditions, or other health exceptions. In order to ensure that the abortions remain safe, accessible as well as legal, abolishing funding restrictions for abortion care are a critical step. For over thirty years, the women in the United States have had the opportunity to choose abortion (Bartlett et al, 2004). Therefore, in order to attain reproductive equality for all the women, the constricting barriers of the Hyde Amendment should be set up.

Women who are struggling to make ends meet and who do not have medical insurance that can cover abortion; the legal right to have an abortion does not guarantee that they will have access to this service. Therefore, abolishing restrictions for abortion care is a critical step to ensuring that the abortions remain safe, accessible as well as legal.

Abortions can reduce crime. Poor women, unmarried women, and teenage girls are more likely to have pregnancies that are unintended. Unwanted babies are often brought up in the very poor conditions. This fact increases their chances of starting criminal lives when they become adul.t The theoretical justification of this argument is based on two assumptions which are: legalizing abortion results in less unwanted babies being brought into the world; unwanted babies are susceptible to experience neglect and abuse. As a result, these children are most likely going to be involved in criminal activities in the future (Bartlett et al, 2004). By virtual definition, the first assumption that abortion lessens the number of unwanted pregnancies is true. The second presumption that the unwanted children are most likely going to be involved in criminal activities in the future is evidenced by the research that has been underway for three decades. When one is in agreement with the two assumptions, a direct mechanism by which legalizing abortion can lessen crime is developed. The question then arises: ’What is the extent of a crime?’ The United States has faced the highest drop in the crime rates. Evidently, the main factor that has contributed to this is the decision to make abortion legal legitimizes more than a quarter century ago (Bartlett et al, 2004).The decision of the Supreme Court in 1973 in Roe v. Wade of making abortion nationwide also explains the abrupt, large and consistent decline of crimes. Leaders of pro-choice organizations will service women of color, low income women, and immigrant women. There will also be reduced children on State’s Medicaid Program. In conclusion, the pro-choice organizations will encourage cultural competency in clinics. The social workers professions ought to comprehensively understand culture as well as its functions in the behaviour of human and the society at large by recognizing the strengths that exist in the different cultures.

After the Hyde Amendments introduced, most states have barred their Medicaid funds from paying for abortion with the exception of New York. According to the Supreme Court theory, abortion has to be legal, but it is a debatable question who is going to to pay for it.The federal government has refused to provide certain reproductive healthcare services for women in the military service, women who depend on Indian Health Services for their healthcare, some federal employees, federal prisoners, Peace Corps volunteers, and women on disability insurance and/or low-income (National Networks of Abortion Funds, 2012). This has been done through the passing of a number of laws that avert the federal care programs to pay for abortion for these groups of individuals. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is another novel reform law enacted in 2010. This law aimed at restricting abortion (National Networks of Abortion Funds, 2012).

Women should make use of contraceptives, not abortion, to prevent unwanted pregnancies. The pro-choice activists are the lead in advocating comprehensive sex education, amplified access to birth control, emergency contraception, and condom use.  These all aforementioned are some of the options for preventing unwanted pregnancies. Nonetheless, according to the pro-choice activists, this does not imply that women should be denied of their abortion rights if there is a need be. The Pro-life supporters argue that women who carry out an abortion continue with the same habit even in future. According to the  study carried out by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 19 percent to 25 percent of women who received abortions in 2006 had previously had one or more abortions.

The economic recession of 2008 and the present increased health care costs have put pressure on the majority of individuals with reference to funding emergency health that at times may encompass abortion. Federal funding for lawful abortion instigates in healthcare coverage and policies, present Medicaid regulations, federal suppor,t as well as funding health care centers catering for reproductive health of women. According to studies, approximately 1.37 million abortions were carried out in the United States in 2007 (Downer, 2011). These abortions are performed in the first, second and third trimesters, with 90% being carried out in the initial trimester whilst the remaining ten percent being carried out in the remaining two trimesters. It is projected by the National Coalition of Abortion Givers that abortion that is carried out in the initial trimester costs approximately 350 U.S dollars; whilst the second trimester cost for abortion increases to 2,500 U.S dollars (Downer, 2011). According to the Alan Guttmacher Institute (AGI), the total yearly cost of the entire abortions that are carried out in the United States is approximately 980 million U.S dollars (Downer, 2011).

Leaders of the National Abortion Rights Movement (NARM) will find representatives from diverse communities and build a long term, working relationships with groups (U.S. Public Policy: Current Issues ).The representatives should be people who comprehensively understand the different cultures of the communities. This will assist the leaders of the NARM in passing the intended information on abortion to the communities by taking into consideration the cultural differences. Moreover, they will be able to create awareness and provide educational information to the communities. It should be organized in such a way that these communities do not feel discriminated due to their religious or cultural beliefs.

The data on the reproductive health of women in diverse communities has been collected. The leaders of the NARM should use the chosen representatives while collecting the  data. Each of the representatives should use questionnaires to collect data on the reproductive health of women in their communities. The questionnaires will be administered to the women in the reproductive age who are supposed to be offered information regarding their reproductive health and Medicaid coverage. In addition, they are supposed to be given information on the problems they face in reproduction. Further, the questionnaires should be administered to the health officers in various health care facilities in the different communities to acquire statistics regarding the issues women in the reproductive age experience as a result of either legal or cultural considerations. 

The fact sheet is meant to create awareness and offer educational information to the reproductive women. By doing so, the women will be able to understand that they are entitled to a safe, accessible and legal abortion if there is a need (U.S. Public Policy: Current Issues).The high levels of unsafe abortion are leading to high rates of maternal deaths.

As well as informing the community that the restrictions on abortion have been abolished. In addition, the community will be notified on the instances when one is supposed to carry out an abortion that include: having an abortion if the child is unwanted or if there are fetal abnormalities, life threatening conditions or health exceptions for the mother. Besides, the low-income women, immigrant women, and women of color should have the opportunity to receive a legal and safe abortion.

In 1965, Medicaid was authorized.. It is a federal program that avails long term coverage, and of course, basic health to people who have low incomes in the USA. This program is considered the largest and well-known program in the United States of America.

 (National Abortion Federation). Medicaid covers over 50 million people. Under this health care program, states acquire matching funds from the federation to offer health care to the low income people. The coverage of Medicaid is vital to the wellbeing of most women. It is evident that over 16 million women get their long term coverage as well as basic health through Medicaid. In 2003, the health program provided long term coverage and basic health to one in ten women as well as one in five women with a low income (National Abortion Federation). This means that, in 2003, around 11.5 per cent women in the age of reproduction were covered by the joint federal health care program.

Presently, it is necessitated that the Medicaid programs in all states, in the United States, should cover the pregnant women meeting the requirements of the federal income. A number of states have chosen to cover only the reproductive women high incomes as compared to the federal prerequisites. However, the coverage has some restrictions, and abortion services are among those provisions that are most thoroughly regulated (National Abortion Federation). From the federal government of the USA, Medicaid  helps the different states to encompass around 43 per cent of the grants from the federation. The national state has forced the state tax revenue to decline hence high costs of health care services. As a result more people became eligible for Medicaid. This has exerted pressure on the states in order to control the Medicaid costs that are basically the second biggest budget expenditure. Apparently, the Government is considering on reducing the funding of the Medicaid. Moreover, it is postulated that in the next 10 years the administration of the government will reduce the spending of Medicaid by 35 billion US dollars; hence, this will greatly affect women in the reproductive age.