Legislation that would bar the state employee health insurance plan from covering abortions in most cases received final passage Tuesday from the Georgia Legislature, sending it to Gov. Nathan Deal for his signature.
Senate Bill 98 passed after both the House and Senate agreed to changes made to the bill in committee. House members voted first, 105-64, to approve the measure. The Senate then voted 36-18 to do the same.
The bill makes no exception for rape or incest, only allowing consideration of a medical emergency involving the life of the mother. It doesn’t make any medical procedure that is legal today illegal. It instead dictates how medical care involving abortions is paid for through the state health plans and through insurance exchanges offered via the Affordable Care Act.
SB 98, authored by Sen. Judson Hill, R-Marietta, makes permanent a decision made last year by the Department of Community Health’s board to bar abortion coverage under the state health plan except when the life of the mother is at stake. That move followed a directive from Gov. Nathan Deal after lawmakers failed to pass a similar bill in the waning hours of the 2013 session.
“This legislation provides permanency rather than the temporary nature of rules and regs,” said Rep. Richard Smith, a Republican from Columbus and chairman of the House Insurance Committee.
But Democrats in both chambers decried what Sen. Nan Orrock, D-Atlanta, called an “egregious attack” on women’s access to health care.
via Abortion bill passes Georgia Legislature | www.myajc.com.
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