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Take Action: Tell Your PA Legislators Not to Ban Health Coverage of Abortion in the Exchange

Three bills have been introduced in the Pennsylvania General Assembly—Senate Bill 3, House Bill 742, and House Bill 818— that aim to prohibit private insurance from offering coverage for abortion services in Pennsylvania’s Exchange, the new marketplace for insurance under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

If passed, these bills:

Will dramatically reduce women’s access to health coverage for abortion services. Currently, the majority of private insurance offers this type of coverage.
Will provide no exception that would allow coverage for women who want to be pregnant but need abortion services because they have learned that they have a life-threatening condition like cancer or that their fetus has anomalies. The only narrow exceptions in these pieces of legislation are for women who become pregnant as a result of rape or incest or who are in immediate danger of death.

Furthermore, if the purpose behind these bills is to restrict public funds from paying for abortions, then these bills are unnecessary. The federal Hyde Amendment already prevents public funding for abortion except in cases of rape, incest, or life endangerment, and the ACA already requires that women must make a separate payment for the abortion coverage in her plan.

Women need access to abortion coverage through the state Exchange. Tell Your Pennsylvania legislators to oppose SB 3, HB 742, and HB 818. Both HB 742 and HB 818 are in the House Health Committee. To contact the committee members, click here.