Crossposted at Choice Words.

 

The version of the FY2010 Appropriations Bill currently in the House of Representatives would lift a number of reproductive justice-related funding bans in Washington, DC.
Congress has supreme authority over the District and conservative
Republicans in Congress have used this power to enact a number of bans
on funding related to so-called social issues.

In a statement
Congressman José E. Serrano, Chairman of the House Appropriations
Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government, said the
bill takes steps to reduce “undue congressional interference in local
affairs and [eliminate] restrictions on the District that do not apply
to other parts of the nation.” The statement lists a number of funding
bans that could be lifted:

The bill eliminates the special prohibition on use on
locally raised funds for abortion—thereby placing the District in the
same position as each of the 50 states in that regard. The measure also
discontinues the ban on use of funds for domestic partnership
registration and benefits and the ban on use of funds for needle
exchange programs, and allows the District to conduct and implement a
referendum on use of marijuana for medical purposes as has been done in
various states.

Access to abortion in DC has been severely limited by anti-choice
Congresspeople playing politics with the District. The AIDS epidemic
has had a devastating impact in DC, where the rate of new cases is 12 times the national average.
DC has a large queer population and leans to the left politically, but
federal funds for domestic partners are still restricted.

The Appropriations process could continue in Congress until October,
so the fight to lift these funding bans is jut beginning. But after
years of a conservative Congress and President putting the health and
lives of DC residents in danger this is an important first step towards
protecting reproductive and sexual health in the U.S. capital.