Abortion Coverage Ban

Passed in the Senate 17-16 on 10/20/11
Passed in the Assembly 61-34 on 3/13/12
Signed into law by Governor Walker on 4/5/12

Senate Bill 92 eliminates insurance coverage for abortion services in Wisconsin--even when individual citizens are using their own dollars to purchase private insurance.

Lawmakers and activists who truly want to reduce the incidence of abortion in Wisconsin should stand with Planned Parenthood and all women's health providers to ensure that men and women have access to basic reproductive health care services that allow families to avoid unintended pregnancies.

But even if all unintended pregnancies in Wisconsin were prevented, the need for abortion would not go away. When a woman's health is at risk, abortion care and related medical services can cost thousands or tens of thousands of dollars. Without insurance coverage, these women and families would be saddled with enormous medical debt due to an unexpected health complication, in addition to losing a pregnancy.

Rather than focus on the economy and jobs—or fighting to preserve programs that actually reduce unintended pregnancies in Wisconsin—lawmakers intent on outlawing abortion are working to take away health benefits the vast majority of women with private health insurance plans currently have.

This is government interference in women and families’ private medical decisions, plain and simple.

Banning insurance coverage for abortion would have dangerous implications for women facing life-threatening pregnancy complications.

• If a pregnant woman learned she had cancer and needed chemotherapy to save her life, insurance still wouldn’t cover her abortion 
• If a woman discovers that her pregnancy has a severe fetal anomaly, where the baby could not survive, insurance would not cover her abortion 
• If a woman has severe seizures that can only be treated with medication known to cause severe fetal deformities and she accidently becomes pregnant, insurance would not cover her care 
• If a pregnant woman with Lupus learns that continuing the pregnancy puts her health at risk, insurance wouldn’t cover her abortion.

Many times, when a woman’s health is at risk, abortion services and related medical care can costs thousands or tens of thousands of dollars. Without insurance coverage, many women and families would be saddled with enormous medical debt due to an unexpected health complication in addition to losing a wanted pregnancy.

In Wisconsin, we have the second highest number of insured individuals in the country--in 2009 98% of our residents had health insurance. Most individuals with employer-sponsored private insurance plans currently have coverage for abortion services. A 2002 Guttmacher Institute study found that 87% of typical employer-sponsored insurance plans covered abortion services; a 2003 Kaiser Family Foundation report found that 46% of workers with health insurance had abortion coverage. The actual number is likely somewhere in between.  The bottom line is that most employer-sponsored health insurance plans in Wisconsin currently cover abortion services in 2011.

"My husband and I had tried for five years before I finally became pregnant with my only living son. My son had been born at only three pounds, and I had problems with preeclampsia during delivery. Still, we wanted him to have a little brother or sister. Two miscarriages and seven years later, I finally became pregnant.

But four months into my pregnancy, I developed a pregnancy-induced blood clot in my arm that spread from my elbow to my shoulder. My high-risk doctor advised me that the blood clot presented a risk to my health and possibly my life. Terminating my pregnancy was the one and only option offering a 100 percent guarantee for me to remain my son’s mom on this Earth.

I know what it is like to live without a mother. My mother died when I was only four years old, and this changed my life forever.

My husband and I agonized over our decision, but we knew preserving my health and my life was the best choice for our family. We painfully decided to terminate my pregnancy to save my life and to preserve my son’s quality of life.

What should have remained a private medical decision between me, my family and my doctor became the political specter of abortion access in Wisconsin today.

To protect the right to safe, legal abortion care takes a serious commitment to women's health. And it takes courage. Politicians who want to end private insurance coverage of abortion have neither of these qualities."