Abortion Backlash

Health Care Reform - Fallout for Abortion Access

The ramifications of the restrictive anti-abortion measures passed in the health care reform bill are already being seen, as state legislatures across the country rush to pass abortion bans on private insurance coverage of abortion on the new health exchanges:

• Prior to Obama signing the new health care reform bill, only five states (Idaho, Kentucky, Missouri, North Dakota and Oklahoma) prohibited the private insurance coverage of abortions.

• The health care reform bill allows states to ban abortion coverage in the new insurance markets, also known as the health exchanges. Arizona has already enacted a bill that will ban the coverage of abortions on its state exchanges. Similar bills were proposed in the Tennessee, Florida, Mississippi and Missouri legislatures just days after the passage of the health care reform package. The restrictive bills in Florida and Mississippi failed to pass, but the Missouri State Senate backed the bill.

Undoing Roe: States Pushing the Envelope

Learn more about the abortion coverage restrictions imposed by the health care reform bill.


State Restrictions Piling Up

More than 400 restrictive bills have passed in state houses since Roe v. Wade, and the new health care bill has spurred a rash of even harsher bills. Some of these bills, like one in Nebraska criminalizing abortion after 20 weeks, appear to be in direct violation of Roe. The following restrictions have been proposed this year:

• The new bill in Florida (mentioned above) would also require a woman seeking an abortion to view an ultrasound of her fetus. About 20 other states are also working to establish ultrasound requirements.
  
• The Oklahoma legislature has passed seven laws this year, overturning three gubernatorial vetoes.  The first overturned veto legally protects doctors from a lawsuit if they intentionally withhold fetal test results which could influence a woman’s choice to terminate the pregnancy. The second mandates an intrusive vaginal probe ultrasound, and requires a doctor or technician to set up machinery so a woman must both see and hear the fetus. The third requires doctors to answer a series of 38 questions about each abortion they perform, including their patient's reasons for ending her pregnancy.
  
• A Utah bill criminalized behavior that could lead a woman to miscarry. Speculators fear that this could lead to murder charges for women who neglect to wear their seatbelts, or women who return to abusive partners.
  
• Nebraska banned abortions at the 20th week of pregnancy, based on a claim that a fetus can feel pain at 20 weeks. This violates Roe v. Wade as 20 weeks is far before the point of viability. Research on fetal pain is the source of heated scientific debate, and has never before been introduced before the Supreme Court. Now, Idaho and Ohio have adopted the 20 week ban and an Alabama bill is waiting on the Governor's signature to introduce the same ban, with no exceptions for rape or incest.
  
• Following the example set by Nebraska, other states have introduced bills banning abortion after even shorter lengths of time in an attempt to bring the abortion issue back to the Supreme Court.  In Iowa, senator Joe Bolkcom introduced a bill criminalizing any abortions performed after 18 weeks. The Ohio house has passed a bill that would ban abortion after 6 weeks when the fetal heartbeat can be detected.
  
• Anti-choice legislators are deploying another method to block abortion clinics by creating new housing and management standards for abortion clinics that must be met in very short periods of time. In Kansas, abortion providers have filed a lawsuit in response to unreasonable regulations such as a clinic temperature of 68 to 73 degrees. 
  

• Virginia has placed new regulations on first trimester abortion providers such that facilities meet requirements that have nothing to do with either patient health or safety. Examples include having specific sizes of rooms and certain hallway lengths. These regulations will officially go into effect on January 1st.

• Missouri has changed the standards for exceptions to a late-term abortion ban. Formerly, if a woman's health was at risk she would be able to have a late term abortion, but now a bill has been passed that says the woman must be at risk of death or serious impairment in order to have an abortion. This has serious repercussions as mental health might not meet the standard of health risk under this bill.

• About 18 states are pursuing mandatory counseling and waiting periods. Mandatory counseling often includes statements not scientifically backed. Young women in in New Hampshire are being targeted by a bill that requires a minor's parents to be notified 48 hours before the abortion procedure is to take place.

Right now it is more important than ever to make sure that New York’s abortion laws are strengthened and updated. You can take action here in New York by helping to pass the Reproductive Health Act.  Click the link to find out how you can Take Action!