Mike Kane for The New York Times
A Reproductive Parity Act opponent in Olympia, Wash.
OLYMPIA, Wash. — The legality or availability of abortion is under challenge from North Dakota to Arkansas this spring as conservative state legislatures throw down roadblocks. But here in this corner of the Far West, winds may blow the other way.
Washington already was the only state ever to have legalized abortion through a popular vote — in 1970, three years before the United States Supreme Court defined the national legal terrain on the issue in Roe v. Wade — and is now debating a law that would require health insurers to pay for an elective abortion.
It is a lonely conversation, national advocates for abortion choice said.
Conservative hostility to the changes looming under the federal health care overhaul, formally the Affordable Care Act, and a widespread belief that a majority on the Supreme Court might be ready to overturn the Roe v. Wade precedent, the advocates said, have combined to rekindle a brush fire that mostly blazes in one direction. In addition, an influx of Republicans swept into many statehouses starting with midterm elections in 2010.
"States are overwhelmingly ruled by anti-choice politicians," said Donna Crane, policy director for the National Abortion Rights Action League, which is based in Washington, D.C. "The Affordable Care Act has probably added some extra octane to the efforts from our opponents."
The result, she said, is an "uptick in bills."
The bill here, H.B. 1044, also known as the Reproductive Parity Act, passed in the Democrat-controlled State House in February, by a 53-to-43 vote. A backer of the bill in the Senate said Monday at a packed public hearing before the Senate Health Care Committee that 25 senators out of 49 have signed on to vote yes if the measure reaches the floor.
But people on both sides of the question said the crux of the bill came down to choice — a word intertwined with the language of abortion for many years, now loaded with new shades of meaning about fine-print insurance coverage, mandates and fairness.
Opponents said the bill would require a provision of health insurance coverage — paying for abortions — that many people do not want and do not want to be part of, even by doing business with a company that provides it. Supporters said that since the federal health care law allowed insurance carriers to opt out of covering abortion, many might well do so when the law kicks in next January unless the state steps in now with new rules.
The bill was amended in the House to provide for a religious conscience exemption for an employer or insurance carrier that opposes abortion, but opponents said the language was vague and contradictory and would provide no protection, or could lead to expensive lawsuits against those who decide to opt out for religious reasons.
"This is also a bullying bill" that forces people who oppose abortion to be part of a system that permits abortions, said Angela Connelly, president of the Washington Women's Network, which she described as an advocacy group working on issues including human trafficking and elder abuse. "We cannot insist on one agenda oppressing another."
The chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood Votes Northwest, Elaine Rose, said the question was about maintaining access to abortion that Washingtonians have said repeatedly, since 1970, that they want and expect. She said the federal health care law, though passed mostly by Democrats in Congress, could "complicate" abortion access in socially liberal Washington State through its rules.
Since the enactment of the Affordable Care Act in March 2010, at least 17 states have enacted legislation to restrict coverage for abortion in their insurance exchanges, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
"Today every carrier and nearly every plan in Washington already covers abortion," Ms. Rose told the panel of senators. "The Reproductive Parity Act will keep it that way."
Politics in Olympia, and especially in the State Senate, are anything but simple this year, making predictions difficult.
Although the Democrats have 26 seats to 23 for the Republicans, the Republican minority was joined in December by two Democrats, creating a bipartisan ruling group. The coalition's majority leader, Senator Rodney Tom, a Democrat, supports abortion rights, but many of the members of the coalition he leads go the other way. That means that if the bill reaches the floor, passage would require a flip side of the leadership coalition — Democrats leading the yes votes, presumably with Senator Tom back among his old caucus.
Gov. Jay Inslee, a Democrat elected in November, is a strong supporter of the Reproductive Parity Act and has urged the Senate to move forward on it.
In North Dakota, by contrast, the momentum mostly has gone the other way. Gov. Jack Dalrymple, a Republican, signed a bill into law last month prohibiting most abortions after a detectable heartbeat is present — essentially banning almost any abortion, since a heartbeat can be found even before many women even know they are pregnant. Arkansas's legislature passed a law, over the veto of Gov. Mike Beebe, a Democrat, banning any abortion after 12 weeks.
Monday's hearing, which was restricted to two hours, left dozens of people unable to speak, and some were cut off if they veered from a focus on the bill or went over their time.
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Washington State Abortion Debate Counters the Trend
Dengan url
http://healtybodyguard.blogspot.com/2013/04/washington-state-abortion-debate.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Washington State Abortion Debate Counters the Trend
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
Washington State Abortion Debate Counters the Trend
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar