house
bill NO. 229
By Request of the ****
A BILL FOR AN ACT
ENTITLED: "AN ACT PROHIBITING QUALIFIED HEALTH
INSURANCE PLANS OFFERED THROUGH A HEALTH INSURANCE EXCHANGE IN MONTANA FROM
COVERING ABORTION SERVICES."
WHEREAS, under Public Law 111-148, the Patient
Protection and Affordable Care Act, federal tax dollars are routed to
exchange-participating health insurance plans through affordability credits
provided to individuals with incomes of up to 400% of the federal poverty level
to assist the individuals with purchasing health insurance coverage, including
health insurance plans that provide coverage for abortions; and
WHEREAS, federal funding of insurance plans that
provide coverage for abortions is an unprecedented change in federal abortion
funding policy that fails to take into account the Hyde Amendment that
prohibits federal funds from subsidizing health insurance plans that provide
coverage of abortions; and
WHEREAS, the provision of federal funding for
health insurance plans that provide abortion coverage is nothing short of
taxpayer-funded and government-endorsed abortion; and
WHEREAS, Public Law 111-148 allows a state to opt
out of permitting health insurance plans that cover abortions from
participating in the health insurance exchanges within that state and thus
prohibit taxpayer money from subsidizing plans that cover abortions within that
state; and
WHEREAS, the U.S. Supreme Court has, in past
decisions, concluded that the decision not to fund abortion services places no
governmental obstacle in the path of a woman who chooses to terminate her
pregnancy and that a state may engage in unequal subsidization of abortion and
other medical services to encourage alternative activity considered to be in
the public interest; and
WHEREAS, a January 2010 Quinnipiac University
poll showed that 7 in 10 Americans were opposed to provisions in federal health
care reform that use federal funds to pay for abortions and abortion coverage.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE
OF MONTANA:
Section 1. Prohibition
on coverage of abortion services in qualified health plans. (1) A qualified health plan, as defined by 42 U.S.C.
18021, may not be offered or otherwise made available through a health
insurance exchange established in the state pursuant to Public Law 111-148, the
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, if the plan provides coverage for
abortion as defined in 50-20-104.
(2) The prohibition in this section does not apply to
a plan that provides coverage for an abortion performed when:
(a) the life of the mother is endangered by a physical
disorder, physical illness, or physical injury, including a life-endangering
physical condition caused by or arising from the pregnancy itself; or
(b) the
pregnancy is the result of an act of rape or incest.
Section 2. Construction.
(1) The provisions of [section 1] may not be construed
as creating or recognizing a right to abortion.
(2) It is not the intent of [section 1] to make lawful
an abortion that is currently unlawful.
Section 3. Codification
instruction. [Sections 1 and 2] are intended to be codified as an
integral part of Title 33, chapter 22, and the provisions of Title 33, chapter
22, apply to [sections 1 and 2].
INTRODUCED
BY J. Gillette