Virginia House and
Senate voted Wednesday to ban abortion coverage in insurance plans sold through
the health care exchange that will be set up in compliance with the Affordable
Care Act, or "Obamacare." The amendment was proposed by the state's
governor, Bob McDonnell.
Senate Democrats were hoping to block the measure, but
failed when two Democrats joined Republicans to move the amendment forward, according to NBC Washington.
The state had already passed a similar amendment in 2011 but
a new amendment was necessary because Virginia opted to let the federal
government set up the exchange rather than set up the exchange itself. The
amendment was added to bills setting up state oversight of the exchanges.
"Governor McDonnell has always maintained a pro-life
stance," said Jeff Caldwell, a spokesman for McDonnell. "These
amendments continue a policy established by the General Assembly in 2011 when
it passed initial legislation to govern the possibility of a state-run health
exchange. While Virginia has now notified the federal government that it will
participate in a federal exchange, the policy toward restricting federal
funding from paying for abortions as part of this exchange has not
changed."
Delegate & Virginia Democratic Party Chairman Charniele
Herring called the amendment "extreme" and complained that Virginia
Republicans were "injecting themselves into decisions that should be
between a woman and her doctor."
"Virginia voters deserve to know where Terry
McAuliffe stands on taxpayer funding of abortion. This commonsense amendment
was opposed by his top political allies, Planned Parenthood and NARAL. The
voters deserve to know if he stands with them, or with the big abortion
lobby," SBA List said in a press release.
According to SBA List's Charlotte Lozier Institute, at least
20 states have now banned abortion coverage in their health care exchanges.
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