For immediate release
December 10, 2014

Peace Corps Volunteers Win Better Reproductive Health Coverage with Omnibus Appropriations Bill

Washington, D.C. – Peace Corps volunteers should soon enjoy the same level of coverage for reproductive health care as other federal employees, thanks to the hard work of advocates and legislative champions who pushed for change this year.

The negotiated omnibus appropriations bill for fiscal year 2015 includes a provision to modify a longstanding unjust restriction on abortion coverage for Peace Corps volunteers. Since 1979, a federal mandate on the Peace Corps has prohibited them from covering the cost of an abortion for volunteers—even in the narrow cases of rape, incest and life endangerment. No other federal employees—including Peace Corps employees—faced this restriction.

“As a returned Peace Corps volunteer, I am overjoyed at this long-overdue change,” said PAI President and CEO Suzanne Ehlers. “Peace Corps volunteers put themselves on the line to support others in some of the most difficult places in the world, and they deserve our government’s unqualified support in the case of a sexual assault or life-threatening pregnancy.”

The Peace Corps provision is included in the omnibus after an amendment making the change was adopted into both the House and Senate Appropriations Committee-approved versions of the State Department and foreign operations appropriations bill earlier this year. The language was included in the base subcommittee bill in the Senate and was added to the House bill through passage of an amendment during full committee consideration. The amendment was sponsored by ranking member Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY).

Both Rep. Lowey and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) also sponsored stand-alone bills, known as the Peace Corps Equity Act, in their respective chambers this year calling for this unequal health care coverage for Peace Corps volunteers to be fixed.

The omnibus bill is expected to be voted on in the House and Senate in the next few days.

For more information, contact: Danielle Zielinski, Senior Communications Officer
Email: [email protected]
Tel: 202-557-3426

Read previous pieces by returned Peace Corps volunteers on the Peace Corps Equity Act:

http://www.populationaction.org/blog/tag/peace-corps-equity-act/

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