Wisconsin Taxpayers Should Not Pay for Abortion Coverage for Public Employees

Yesterday I testified before the Assembly Health Committee in favor of AB 216 which has two provisions. The first provision prohibits the use of public funds to pay for abortion coverage for public employees. The Health Care Conscience Act includes public employees under provisions of current law (s.20.927) that prohibit the use public funds to pay a physician or surgeon or hospital, clinic or other medical facility for the performance of an abortion except in certain cases specified in current law.

Wisconsin currently pays for abortion coverage for public employees for any reason, at any stage of pregnancy. Eighteen states do not allow abortion coverage in insurance plans for public employees. Federal employee health care plans do not cover abortions by action of Congress.

Wisconsin currently prohibits payment for abortions of Medicaid recipients and will not provide abortion coverage under the health insurance exchanges set up under the federal health care law. This provision of AB 216 provides equity so that taxpayers are not funding abortions for any group of people in Wisconsin.

Wisconsin Right to Life urged the state legislature to join those 18 states and the Congress by voting to prohibit abortion coverage for public employees.

The second provision exempts certain religious organizations, employers and institutions of higher learning from the mandate to provide insurance coverage for abortion-inducing drugs. Current state law mandates that employers provide insurance coverage for abortion-inducing drugs through health insurance policies sold in Wisconsin. This mandate violates the conscience rights of many employers and religious institutions who, on religious grounds, object to providing insurance coverage for the destruction of human life. The only way an employer or religious institution can avoid this onerous mandate is to self-insure. Self-insurance is not an acceptable solution because it is expensive to implement and can result in reduced coverage and increased costs for employees.

The Health Care Conscience Act exempts the coverage of abortion-inducing and other drugs from an insurer that issues group health insurance plans to a religious organization, religious employer or religious institution of higher learning that meets the bill’s criteria. Wisconsin Right to Life urged the legislature to provide this conscience relief for these individuals and entities

Barbara Lyons