Just stick it back in the right way
An Ohio state representative introduced a new bill last month, which aims to prohibit insurance coverage of abortions that occur where the mother’s life is not “endangered if the fetus were carried to term.” The bill includes exceptions, including one for a procedure that does not exist.
GOP Rep. John Becker introduced House Bill 182, which allows for two situations where insurers could offer coverage for abortion services. One is a “procedure, in an emergency situation, that is medically necessary to save the pregnant woman’s life.”
The other, the bill says, is a procedure for an ectopic pregnancy, “that is intended to reimplant the fertilized ovum into the pregnant woman’s uterus.”
Which can’t be done.
“An ectopic pregnancy cannot move or be moved to the uterus, so it always requires treatment,” according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
…
Ohio is no stranger to anti-abortion legislation. In April, Republican Gov. Mike DeWine signed the state’s “heartbeat” bill, an abortion ban that would prohibit the procedure about five to six weeks into a pregnancy, before most women know that they’re pregnant. The law is slated to go into effect on July 10.
This is some of that cis privilege we hear so much about, isn’t it.
This could be very bad. If they can’t abort an ectopic pregnancy, but can only remove the embryo to reinsert in the uterus, which we can’t do, that could lead to many deaths. Although, technically, I suppose they could just terminate the ectopic pregnancy under the clause about endangering the woman’s life.
iknklast,
Yeah, that’s puzzling. The problem is this, though: if an ectopic pregnancy was considered to be endangering the woman’s life and therefore covered under that exception, then there wouldn’t be any need for the specific exception regarding re-implantation. So a fairly logical interpretation is the legislature (if it passes this stupid bill) is making a finding that ectopic pregnancies generally do not endanger life, meaning that either the doctor has to attempt re-implantation, or else make a specific finding that THIS ectopic pregnancy is especially threatening.
Some reports on this legislation have referred to it as an outright ban, or talked about doctors going to prison. That doesn’t seem quite right, as this bill only addresses insurance coverage, though I suppose there might be some already-existing laws that might combine with this. Of course, in a way that makes this more pernicious — what it really means is that women could continue to end ectopic pregnancies as long as they can afford to pay out of the pocket. Which I’m sure is a relief to all those GOP donors and legislators who want to decry abortion as murder while preserving their own access — and that of their wives, mistresses, and daughters — to abortion services. There’s something disgustingly hypocritical about crying “this is MURDER! Well, when you people do it, at least….”