As reported last week at HealthcareHorserace.com, a battle is brewing in Congress over whether to include coverage for abortion procedures in a public option insurance plan.
Specifically including the procedures would mark a departure from precedent set by the 33-year-old Hyde Amendment which forbids Medicaid (and by precedent the federal government) from paying for abortions with federal money. All but 17 states have since followed suit and banned the use of state funds for abortion procedures with 13 of those requiring a court order to do so.
Of course, specifically excluding the procedures could be seen as a challenge to the landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade which forbids federal and state governments from denying a woman the right to chose whether to abort an unwanted pregnancy. It could also create a question as to whether denying the procedures constitutes a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause as nearly 90% of private insurers currently include abortion procedures in their coverage according to the reproductive health watchdog Guttmacher Institute.
A third alternative is the status quo - not addressing abortion procedures in the legislation and waiting on activist judges to take the issue up in their courtrooms. This may prove the most politically expedient option for lawmakers not wanting to debate abortion on the floors of the House and Senate, but leads to the same Supreme Court showdown as the aforementioned scenarios.
As the Senate HELP (Health Education Labor and Pensions) Committee considered its Quality, Affordable Health Coverage for All Americans bill, Republican senators offered pro-life amendments to the bill. All were defeated just days before the bill was voted out of committee.
On Monday, amendments offered separately by Senators Orrin Hatch and Tom Coburn were each defeated by votes of 11-12 with Democrat Senator Bob Casey joining the Republicans. The Hatch Amendment would have prevented insurers (public or private) participating in a healthcare exchange from providing abortion procedures to participants who receive government subsidies. The Coburn Amendment sought to protect state parental notification laws regarding minors seeking abortions from being overridden by federal legislation.
“The right to life is a fundamental value cherished by most Americans, regardless of their political affiliation,” said Hatch, a member of the HELP Committee. “Yet unless abortion is specifically excluded from this bill, the secretary of Health and Human Services could mandate coverage of abortion, arguing it is an ‘essential health care benefit’ and is ‘necessary for meeting minimum qualifying coverage.’ ”
Unless the issue of government funded abortions is addressed in the Senate Finance Committee healthcare reform bill anticipated later this week, abortion is very likely to make its way back in front of the Supreme Court, making the ongoing confirmation hearings of Judge Sonia Sotomayor all the more significant.
Tags: abortion, Bob Casey, Equal Protection Clause, Fourteenth Amendment, HELP Committee, Hyde Amendment, Medicaid, Orrin Hatch, pro-life, Quality Affordable Health Coverage for All Americans, Roe v. Wade, Senate Finance Committee, Sonia Sotomayor, Supreme Court, Tom Coburn
