Kansas Bill Would Ban Insurance Coverage of Abortion, Require Extra Payment
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
February 12, 2010
Topeka, KS (LifeNews.com) — While Congress is still pushing a government-run health care bill that would force taxpayers to fund abortions and could result in mandating that insurance companies pay for them, the Kansas legislature is considering a bill that would move the state in the other direction.
House Bill 2564 would prohibit insurance companies from automatically covering abortions under their plans except in very rare instances.
As a result, people who don’t want their insurance premiums to pay for abortions would be protected and people who want to get abortions would pay for them with their own money by purchasing a rider for such coverage.
The Kansas House Insurance committee heard testimony on the bill yesterday remove abortion from standard inclusion in all health care policies.
Kansans for Life, a statewide pro-life group, strongly supports the measure and told LifeNews.com on Thursday that, since 1978, abortion has been excluded from standard health care policies in seven other states.
"In 2007, Kansas joined nine other states in freeing their taxpayers from paying for abortion in state employee insurance plans," KFL said. "However, too many private businesses in Kansas remained frustrated that they were unable to offer abortion-free policies to their staff."
Those states include neighbors Missouri and Oklahoma and Rhode island has a similar law but it has been blocked by the courts.
"Kansans for Life welcomes this legislation, affording all citizens—not just state employees– freedom from being forced to pay for other people’s elective abortions in employee-provided, or self-insured, health care policies," the group continued.
During the hearing, Kari Ann Rinker of the National Organization for Women testified against the bill claiming it would somehow lead to lack of coverage for legitimate medical procedures.
Sarah Gillooly, spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri, also opposed the measure to protect Kansans from paying for abortions in health insurance coverage.
The committee did not take a vote on the bill but plans to resume consideration of it next week.
Related web sites:
Kansas Legislature – https://www.kslegislature.org
Kansans for Life – https://www.kfl.org
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