Pro-Choice Action Needed!

­­­­Please call every member on the Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee before Tuesday.

Message: "Please vote against SB113.  If you cannot vote no, please vote for an amendment that protects the health of the mother, and covers situations of rape and incest."

It is extremely important to call all of the committee members this weekend.  This bill has already passed the Arkansas Senate and will be voted on in the House Public Health Committee on Tuesday.  Calls do not have to be to your legislator.  Please make these calls and ask five friends to do the same.  Telephone calls are more effective than emails.

Background:

SB113 prohibits private insurance companies from covering abortion in plans they offer in the state insurance exchange created by the federal health reform law. Women who want abortion to be covered must purchase a separate abortion rider outside the exchange, and currently no such riders exist anywhere in the country. This bill would make it nearly impossible for a woman purchasing insurance inside the exchange to spend her own money on coverage for abortion. It is an unprecedented intrusion into private health insurance.

• There is no such thing as an abortion rider.  No one anticipates needing an abortion, so no one is going to be able to purchase a rider, even if such a thing existed.  ­­­­­
• SB113 contains no exception for rape or incest. This bill forces victims of rape or incest to foot the bill to terminate a resulting pregnancy.
• SB113 contains no exceptions to protect the health of the mother. If this bill passed, an insurance company participating in the exchange would be prohibited by the government from covering a woman with cancer who requires an abortion in order to undergo chemotherapy.
• This bill is NOT about ensuring tax dollars aren't spent on abortion. The federal government already stipulates that no federal dollars can be spent on abortion in the exchanges (except in the case of rape or incest or to protect the life of the mother).  This bill restricts what people's private insurance premiums can be spent on.
• This bill discriminates against people who purchase their insurance through the state exchange. By restricting coverage in the exchanges, this bill forces insurance companies to offer worse plans in the exchange than the plans they offer to large employers. It unfairly discriminates against people who are self-employed or employed by small businesses.