Prohibition on DC's Use of Own Funds to Pay for Poor Women's Abortions Angers District Residents

NPR: Budget Deal Stymies Rights Of Washingtonians, by Michel Martin:

I have one more thought about the budget deal agreed to over the weekend.

If you tuned in earlier in the program, you heard from Congress' representative from the District of Columbia, the nation's capital, about specific steps taken by budget negotiators that will deny the District the right to use its own tax dollars to fund abortions for poor women and require the District to continue picking up the tab for private school tuitions for a small group of poor kids whose neighborhood schools are deemed to be failing. . . .

NY Times: Abortion Limit Is Renewed, as Is Washington Anger, by Sabrina Tavernise:

The sound and fury of last week’s budget debate came down to a dollar figure that some members of Congress could have covered by writing a personal check.

Elective abortions for poor women in the District of Columbia — a central bargaining chip in the deal — have cost the city $62,300 since August, city officials say.

In a national budget that is measured in trillions of dollars, that might not seem like much. But for this city, which raises $5 billion in tax revenue each year but does not have the final say over how to spend it, the compromise — which restores a ban on the use of local taxpayer money for abortions — served as a bitter reminder of its powerlessness. . . .

See also: care2: 28 Women Forced To Find Funds Overnight for Abortions Due To D.C. Funding Ban, by Robin Marty