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May 25, 2011
Senate holds hearing on Abortion Coverage Ban
The private insurance industry and consumers have already weighed in: Abortion coverage should be available to women. The fact that 80 percent of private insurance plans currently cover abortion care speaks for itself.
But opponents of abortion are working to end private insurance coverage. Under a proposal heard in the Senate Committee on Public Health, Human Services and Revenue today, women and men would be prohibited from using their own money to buy insurance coverage that covers the full range of women’s health care needs in the health care exchange, which is to be set up by 2014.
Senate bill 92, introduced by Sen. Zipperer (R-Pewaukee) and Rep. Vos (R-Racine), would eliminate insurance coverage for abortion care in Wisconsin—even when individual citizens are using their own dollars to purchase private insurance.
Public funds are not at issue here. Opponents of abortion access have long misstated a legal certainty in Wisconsin. There are no grey areas, the law is crystal clear: except under very narrow circumstances to save the life of a pregnant woman on Medicaid, or to assist a victim of rape who is on Medicaid, taxpayer funding for abortion care in WI does not exist.
Senate Bill 92 prevents any private insurance company selling a plan in the yet to be established Wisconsin exchange from covering abortion care, except in very limited circumstances.
If this bill passes, it is unlikely that any private insurance company will continue to offer abortion coverage in Wisconsin because by doing so they will be ineligible to participate in the private market place where insurance will eventually be sold.
Statement by Nicole Safar, Legal and Policy Advisor for Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin, opposes Senate Bill 92
Lawmakers and activists who truly want to end 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.
Judy, from Madison, opposes Senate Bill 92
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.
Senate holds hearing on Abortion Coverage Ban
The private insurance industry and consumers have already weighed in: Abortion coverage should be available to women. The fact that 80 percent of private insurance plans currently cover abortion care speaks for itself.
But opponents of abortion are working to end private insurance coverage. Under a proposal heard in the Senate Committee on Public Health, Human Services and Revenue today, women and men would be prohibited from using their own money to buy insurance coverage that covers the full range of women’s health care needs in the health care exchange, which is to be set up by 2014.
Senate bill 92, introduced by Sen. Zipperer (R-Pewaukee) and Rep. Vos (R-Racine), would eliminate insurance coverage for abortion care in Wisconsin—even when individual citizens are using their own dollars to purchase private insurance.
Public funds are not at issue here. Opponents of abortion access have long misstated a legal certainty in Wisconsin. There are no grey areas, the law is crystal clear: except under very narrow circumstances to save the life of a pregnant woman on Medicaid, or to assist a victim of rape who is on Medicaid, taxpayer funding for abortion care in WI does not exist.
Senate Bill 92 prevents any private insurance company selling a plan in the yet to be established Wisconsin exchange from covering abortion care, except in very limited circumstances.
If this bill passes, it is unlikely that any private insurance company will continue to offer abortion coverage in Wisconsin because by doing so they will be ineligible to participate in the private market place where insurance will eventually be sold.
Statement by Nicole Safar, Legal and Policy Advisor for Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin, opposes Senate Bill 92
Lawmakers and activists who truly want to end 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.
Judy, from Madison, opposes Senate Bill 92
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.