Texas House OKs bill to block insurance coverage for abortions stat : Fox News

The Texas House of Representatives approved a bill Tuesday -- coined as "rape insurance" by its detractors -- that would force women to pay a separate health insurance premium to get covered for a non-emergency abortion. It does not make exceptions for abortions that follow rape, incest or fetal abnormalities. The lead author, Rep. John Smithee, R-Amarillo, defended the legislation, saying people who oppose abortion shouldn't subsidize it through their health insurance plans, the Texas Tribune reported. It is about who is forced to pay for an abortion." - Texas state Rep. John SmitheeHouse Democrats sought to include exceptions for rape, incest and fetal abnormalities. They also tried to discard a provision preventing insurance companies from offering savings on supplemental health plans covering abortion.




Texas women would have to pay a separate health insurance premium to get coverage for non-emergency abortions — what an opponent dubbed "rape insurance" — under a bill given early approval by the Texas House on Tuesday. House Bill 214 requires women to pay an additional insurance premium if they want their health plan to cover abortions performed outside of medical emergencies. The Texas Tribune thanks its sponsors. With the supplemental abortion coverage plan, women would have to decide whether they wanted "rape insurance," said state Rep. Chris Turner, D- Fort Worth. A third bill, House Bill 14, which would prevent state and local governments from contracting with abortion providers or their affiliates, has made it out of committee but has yet to be scheduled for a floor debate.

Texas inches closer to banning most insurance coverage for abortion

To get abortion coverage, women would need to purchase supplemental health insurance. And Tuesday's passage of HB 214 puts the Legislature close to clearing a bill Texas Right to Life has declare critical to protecting "Pro-Life Texans from subsidizing abortions." Of the 10 states that ban private insurance coverage of abortions, two have exceptions for rape and incest. How premiums are calculated for abortion coverage plans and the procedures employers would have to go through will be among the most difficult to navigate, Nash said. Two powerful education committee chairmen have been at odds all year over how to address the state's beleaguered school funding system.


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