All* Above All Announces the Be Bold Road Trip

WASHINGTON, Aug. 4, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- All* Above All announced today, on the one year anniversary of its bold campaign, that advocates are hitting the road and declaring their support to end bans on abortion coverage for low-income women nationwide.  The All* Above All Be Bold Road Trip and Declaration are part of an innovative and uplifting campaign that unites organizations and individuals across the country to build support for abortion coverage.  The tour will cover nearly 10,000 miles from coast to coast kicking off in Los Angeles, California on Saturday, August 9^th and will conclude on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. in mid-September to commemorate the anniversary of the Hyde Amendment.

Covering 12 cities in 8 states, the tour will mobilize Millennials, people of color, and other diverse groups to stand up to the avalanche of attempts to disenfranchise them and their decision-making.  In addition, the tour will educate people across the country about the harmful impact that these bans have, especially on low-income women, young women, and women of color. 

"It's a new day.  We are igniting supporters across the country, led by young people and people of color, to take bold action to lift these abortion coverage bans that allow politicians to make decisions about our lives," declared Kierra Johnson, Executive Director, URGE (formally Choice USA).

Since the passage of the Hyde amendment in 1976, Congress has withheld coverage for abortion services from women insured through the Medicaid program—now numbering nine million women of reproductive age.  And with the passage of the Affordable Care Act, policymakers in 25 states have enacted additional restrictions on insurance coverage of abortion in state marketplaces, with eight of those states banning coverage in all private plans. Recently, federal and state politicians have ramped up their efforts to restrict abortion, creating even more barriers like overregulating clinics that can make abortion increasingly unaffordable and unavailable. 

"Politicians across the country seem to be in a race to see who can create the most impenetrable barriers to abortion. The impact falls most on women of color who are struggling financially to make ends meet, " said Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas, Executive Director of the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health. 

"It's time to secure reproductive justice for all women and to stop the terrible injustice of the Hyde Amendment," added Stephanie Poggi, Executive Director, National Network of Abortion Funds. "We will continue to stand united until every woman can make her own decision based on her own circumstances, no matter what her income is."

"Too often low-income women and young women's access to basic health care is traded away for political expediency. The Be Bold Road Trip is about taking to the streets and mobilizing the rising electorate to end the unnecessary political interference in women's decision making," said Kate Stewart, Executive Vice President, Advocates for Youth.

Each of the stops will engage participants in signing a petition asking policy makers to declare their support for proactive policies that seek to lift abortion bans and to raise their voice in opposition to policies that continue to take away insurance coverage of abortion instead of leaving these decisions to a woman and her family.

At each stop participants will rally with local religious leaders, organizations, elected officials and Members of Congress as they learn more about the issue, sign the truck wall showing their support, snap selfies, and listen and participate in the reading of abortion stories.

"Politicians are running roughshod over our decision making and our rights.  But we're no longer willing to be thrown under the bus.  So now, we're driving it! We're taking it to communities across the country to say, 'enough is enough!'" added Jessica Arons, President & CEO of the Reproductive Health Technologies Project.

The Be Bold Road Trip Schedule:

Follow the tour virtually at www.facebook.com/allaboveall and www.allaboveall.org.

About All* Above All:                      
The Declaration and Be Bold Road Trip are part of the All* Above All campaign, an innovative and uplifting campaign that unites organizations and individuals to build support for abortion coverage. Our vision is to restore public insurance coverage so that every woman, however much she makes, can get affordable, safe abortion care when she needs it. www.facebook.com/allaboveall or www.allaboveall.org.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140803/132824

SOURCE National Network of Abortion Funds