On Oct. 3, 1977, Rosie Jiménez—a 27-year-old mother, student and aspiring teacher in McAllen, Texas—died after being denied Medicaid coverage for abortion. Nearly 50 years later, the policy that killed her is still on the books.
In 1977, a young woman named Rosie Jiménez lived in McAllen, Texas, not far from my home. She was a single mother, a student and a woman of ambition. When she became pregnant, she didn’t want to have another child at that time, so she sought out abortion care. But she couldn’t afford an abortion. And since the Hyde Amendment—banning the use of federal funds for abortion—had passed just a year before, she saw no choice but to seek out an illegal abortion. She died of complications from the procedure.
Henry Hyde proposed the Hyde Amendment as a direct response to the Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion in the U.S. He was up front about his intentions, saying: “I certainly would like to prevent, if I could legally, anybody having an abortion, a rich woman, a middle-class woman, or a poor woman. Unfortunately, the only vehicle available is the … Medicaid bill.”
In other words, Henry Hyde did a run-around on the Supreme Court’s ruling and essentially nullified it for millions. Since the first passage of the Hyde Amendment in 1976, it has been reenacted every year since. Lawmakers in 33 states have passed similar bills barring the use of state Medicaid funds for abortion.
Roe v. Wade legalized abortion in 1973—but simply establishing the right to abortion was and is the bare minimum. People with marginalized identities have never had the same access to abortion that privileged people do. State legislators and federal lawmakers have made it their mission to use us as political pawns to fuel their anti-abortion agenda. Abortion may have been legal, but it was never equally accessible.
When I first heard Rosie’s story a few years ago, I was infuriated. She died at the hands of Henry Hyde, and a full generation of lawmakers have continued to perpetuate the same violence since her death. I knew that we needed to keep fighting, so I joined community organizers in the Rio Grande Valley—Rosie’s home and mine—to demand real reproductive justice.
Before abortion was outlawed in the state of Texas, for people in the RGV, there was just one clinic that was accessible: the clinic in McAllen. In addition to the cost of abortion, some had to drive hours to get there, and with Texas’ other restrictions—including a forced waiting period—they often had to stay overnight. For young people in school, or those with low incomes, the expenses were daunting. And, per the Hyde Amendment, there was no Medicaid coverage for abortion as there is for nearly every other routine medical procedure.
Today, those barriers are even higher. Since Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturned Roe in 2022, abortion is now completely banned in Texas. For Texans, that means the right Rosie was denied access to in 1977 is gone for everyone.
It’s too late for Rosie and for a generation of young women after her. But for me and thousands of others across the country fighting this fight, the work is about ensuring no one ever suffers as Rosie and her family did again. My town, my region, my state, my country—all of us—must remember Rosie Jiménez and commit to building a future where no one is denied the care they need.
Rosie deserved better. We all do.
This article was excerpted from 2021 Ms. piece, “To Protect Our Health, We Must Enact The EACH Act.”
