UPDATE, AUGUST 15, 2017: It's official: On Tuesday Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed into law a bill that requires women in the state to pay an extra health insurance premium for "nonemergency" abortions, according to The Texas Tribune.
"As a firm believer in Texas values I am proud to sign legislation that ensures no Texan is ever required to pay for a procedure that ends the life of an unborn child,” Abbott said in a statement. “I am grateful to the Texas Legislature for getting this bill to my desk, and working to protect innocent life this special session.”
Republicans who introduced and supported the bill have argued that it shouldn't be up to the general public to help offset the cost of an abortion (and as the Tribune noted, there are no exceptions for instances of rape, incest, or fetal abnormalities). But as opponents of the newly signed law have made clear, this bill could have serious repercussions for low-income women who can't afford to pay for this added health care cost—and may be forced to carry an unintended pregnancy to term.
“Women don’t plan to be raped. Parents don’t plan for their children to be victims of incest,” state Representative Chris Turner said as the law was being debated. “Asking a woman or a parent to foresee something like that and buy supplemental insurance to cover that horrific possibility is not only ridiculous, it is cruel.”
This post was originally published on August 14, 2017.
On Sunday the Texas Senate voted in favor of a bill that requires women to pay an extra insurance premium if they want "nonemergency" abortions covered. It passed the House last week, and if the Governor Greg Abbott signs it, House Bill 214 will become law. This would mean that women unable to afford these premiums may be forced to carry pregnancies to term.
Democrats had proposed that an exception be added to the bill for cases of rape, incest, or fetal abnormalities. "No woman plans to have an abortion, and certainly no one can plan to be raped; no woman can plan to be sexually assaulted by someone she knows in her own family," Democratic Senator Sylvia Garcia, one of the proponents of the exception, said on Saturday. She added that requiring women to buy insurance that they may need only if they are sexually assaulted is like requiring them to buy "rape insurance." The Senate voted 20-10 against the amendment.
The bill's supporters claim that insurance companies shouldn't be forced to cover abortions if they're ideologically opposed to them. "Texas must take steps to prohibit taxpayer and premium dollars from subsidizing abortions that are not medically necessary," said Republican Senator Brandon Creighton. But its opponents argued that the state's insurance plans already limit coverage to abortions that are medically necessary. They're also concerned that many insurance companies won't even offer plans that include the abortion premium.
Ten states already have similar laws that limit private insurance plans' abortion coverage, and only two include exceptions in the case of rape or incest. Most women who get abortions throughout the country already pay out of pocket, according to a Guttmacher analysis, either because their plans don't cover them or because they can't afford the deductibles their plans require them to pay.
Getting an abortion in Texas is already challenging enough as it stands. It's illegal to get an abortion after 20 weeks in the state, those who do get abortions are required to get ultrasounds first and then wait 24 hours, and those under 18 are required to get parental consent. But that hasn't stopped the state from passing additional abortion legislation: In June Abbott signed a bill into law that requires aborted fetuses' remains to be buried or cremated, and he's expected to sign this bill as well.
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