A bill that would eliminate out-of-pocket expenses for abortions and related services passed the State Senate last week and is now in the Assembly.
State Sen. Lena Gonzalez (D-Long Beach) is the author of the bill, SB 245, which would bar most private health plans regulated by the state from “imposing a deductible, coinsurance, copayment, or any other cost-sharing requirement on coverage for all abortion and abortion-related services.”
“Everyone should have the right to make their own decision about when, if and how to start a family. Yet when it comes to Black, Latinx, Indigenous, trans and non-binary individuals, people with disabilities, young people, low-income and rural families and women of color—that choice, that constitutional right can quickly disappear under the financial strain of co-payments, deductibles and debt,” said Gonzalez in a statement.
Current law already allows enrollees in Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program for low-income people, to use their insurance for abortion costs. Any new law would not apply to plans regulated by the federal government. Spending by the federal government is subject to the Hyde Amendment. The 1977 amendment bars federal funding from paying for abortions except in the case of rape, incest, or if the pregnant person’s life is in danger.
President Biden’s budget proposal, released in May, removed the decades-long ban. But for the moment, healthcare provided by the federal government remains under the Hyde Amendment’s restrictions. Among others, people in the military, Native Americans, who by and large receive their healthcare through Indian Health Service, and low-income people in states that do not provide state-level coverage for abortion are forced to pay out of pocket for the medical procedure.
Abortion opponents say, instead, the state should make birth and maternity care more affordable. Director of Californians for Life Wynette Sills told the LA Times, “If we’re trying to look out for the economically disadvantaged, I think it’s repulsive that the best we can offer is a free abortion.”
California is one of only six states that requires health insurance plans to cover abortions and the State Senate’s vote to make abortion more accessible sets it appart from the majority of state legislatures. In 2021, 43 states introduced 384 antiabortion provisions, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research organization that advocates for reproductive rights.
On top of the state-level attacks on abortion access, the Supreme Court elected to review a Mississippi law that bans abortion after 15 weeks. Reproductive rights advocates fear the conservative-packed Supreme Court’s ruling could weaken Roe v. Wade irreparably.
Pro-choice advocacy groups applauded the bill’s introduction both as a protection against the reversal of Roe and for making the medical procedure more available to low-income people.
“While we’re proud that California is a national leader on abortion rights, without access to affordable care the right to abortion is a right in name only,” said Shannon Olivieri Hovis, director of NARAL Pro-Choice California.
