California lawmakers vote to make abortion more affordable to individuals on private healthcare plans.
QUICK FACTS:
- California lawmakers voted on Thursday to make abortions cheaper for those on private health insurance plans, ABC News reports.
- If the bill passes, the state would become the fourth in the country to ban insurance fees for the procedure.
- According to the California Health Benefits Review Program, California already requires private health insurance to cover the cost of an abortion, but insurance companies are allowed to charge for additions like co-pays and deductibles, adding an average of $543 to the cost of a medication abortion and $887 to the cost of a procedural abortion.
OPPONENTS OF THE BILL:
“The real tragedy is in the state we now are really treating abortion like we treat no other health care services. We do not see the Assembly today, for example, vote to make dialysis free. We did not see the Assembly vote to make insulin free.”
BACKGROUND:
- The vote is part in preparation for a potential Supreme Court decision this summer that could overturn Roe v. Wade, the pivitol case that banned states from outlawing abortions in 1973.
- Users took to Twitter to express their opinions on the highly controversial topic, stating that there are other alternatives to abortion.
- “(USE BIRTH CONTROL, IT’S CHEAPER THAN ABORTIONS & IT’S DOESN’T KILL BABIES!!!!!!!),” one user said.
- Illinois, Oregon, and New York have all already banned insurance fees on abortion, according to a legislative analysis of the proposal.
