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In March, At-large Councilmember Christina Henderson also introduced the Enhancing Reproductive Health Protections Amendment Act of 2022, which clarifies that an individual assisting someone in self-managing their medication-induced abortion would not be penalized. The bill was co-introduced with nine other councilmembers.

Council member Christina Henderson (I-At Large) said the at-risk funding pool has always been “contentious” and said governments often “over-police” money going to communities in need of more investments. But she hailed the way the council’s funding proposal was crafted. “It can be a game changer,” she said.

Henderson, an at-large independent lawmaker, introduced the “Give SNAP a Raise Amendment of 2021,” which would increase the program’s minimum monthly to recipients by providing city funds to match their federal benefits under the Low-Cost Food Plan set by the Food and Nutrition Service at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Additionally, the bill would change the maximum benefit to 15% of the maximum allotment for a recipient’s family, as opposed to the current flat rate of $30.

Also, it is not just about DC residents. We have a lot of people from places like Texas who travel to the District for their abortion care procedures. We want to make sure that this can continue to happen. I introduced a bill earlier this year to shore up protections for self-managed terminations of pregnancy, to ensure that those folks or anyone who helps them cannot be criminalized. There are times where people are like, “Do we really need this? We’re in DC—I think we’re okay.” But I don’t think that we should ever make any assumptions about rights, about freedom, especially as it pertains to someone else’s body.

Though Democrats have agreed in the past to prevent the District from spending local funds on abortion, she says now is the time to hold firm and preserve abortion access for women. “We call on Congress not only to codify Roe, but also to give D.C. statehood so that we can protect our residents and their rights even more,” Henderson said.

D.C. has continued to try to strengthen protections for people seeking abortion or those assisting them.

In March, D.C. Council member Christina Henderson (I-At Large) introduced a bill to enhance protections for people who assist someone with a self-managed abortion, such as one induced by medication at home. Henderson said in an interview she acted after seeing a flurry of proposed or enacted legislation across the country seeking to criminalize or penalize people who assist others in obtaining an abortion, noticing that was one area D.C. hadn’t yet thought to add protections.

“We have [our own] protections in place. We have updated our human rights laws and rules on reproductive decision-making. I have a bill that’s pending right now to provide some additional enhancements as it pertains to self-managed abortions,” she told DCist/WAMU. “And then I thought, ‘Man, if Republicans take back Congress, they will use the District as their petri dish yet again.’ They will they will attempt to go further than just saying, ‘You can’t spend local funds on abortion.’”

D.C. Councilmember Christina Henderson brought her toddler daughter to the public celebration. Henderson, a Black woman, said she wanted her child to witness history. “The sky is the limit and another glass ceiling or concrete ceiling has been broken,” she said.

“Many people don’t anticipate that they will have difficulty conceiving a child,” Henderson said. “Once they realize that they do and that there is a clear solution, they are then met with another obstacle – cost. One cycle of in vitro fertilization alone can cost between $20,000 to $25,000 and insurance providers are not required to cover this treatment. This legislation would change that, requiring private, Medicaid and DC Alliance insurers to cover assisted reproductive technologies.”

O’Leary said he is hopeful that increased advocacy from D.C. City Councilmembers like Janeese Lewis George and Christina Henderson, who were not yet elected in 2018, will have an impact.

“We’ve put a lot of money in terms of band-aids around maintenance, and it’s now time for a facility that meets our goals,” said at-Large Councilmember Christina Henderson.