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Fast Facts
Insurance Prohibition for Abortion
What are bans on insurance coverage for abortion, and how do they restrict women's privacy and choice? |
Anti-choice state and federal legislators have enacted laws prohibiting insurance companies from covering abortion services, or requiring women to pay an extra premium to receive coverage for abortion care. Women should not be denied coverage for reproductive-health services—a basic part of women's health care—by politicians imposing their personal beliefs on private medical decisions. |
CURRENT STATE LAWS17 states prohibit insurance plans for public and/or private employees from covering abortion services: AR, CO, ID, IL, KY, MA, MS, MO, NE, ND, OH, OK, PA, RI, SC, VA, WI.
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CURRENT FEDERAL LAWSFederal law bars federal employees from selecting a health-care plan that provides abortion coverage. Retired and current military personnel and their dependents are also prohibited from obtaining coverage for abortion care through military health plans, even if a pregnancy resulted from an act of rape or incest. |
2009 FEDERAL ACTIONIn November 2009, the House passed an amendment to health-reform legislation that imposes sweeping new limitations on women's access to abortion coverage, including restrictions that would, if enacted, make it virtually impossible for women to purchase insurance plans with abortion coverage in the new health-care system, even with their own, private funds. (During committee consideration of the House and Senate bills, several similar amendments were offered as well.) The Senate voted down such a provision, but later included other troubling restrictions that would place administrative burdens on individuals who want to purchase insurance that includes abortion coverage and on plans that wish to offer it. Although not identical to the House-passed language, these restrictions could have a similar chilling effect on the availability of abortion coverage in the new system. The differences between the two bills remain unresolved as of this site's launch. |
2009 NOTABLE DEVELOPMENTS
Of the 17 states listed above, five allow women to purchase abortion coverage only by a separate rider at an additional cost: ID, KY, MO, ND, OK. However, the experiences in these states are not promising. Recent research conducted in North Dakota by the National Women's Law Center found that the private health plan that holds the state's overwhelming share of the health-insurance market (91 percent) does not offer a rider for abortion coverage. In fact, the state insurance department has no record of abortion riders from any of the leading five individual insurance plans in North Dakota from at least the past decade.
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| For a map of all states with Insurance Prohibition for Abortion - click here. | |
