In March of 2010, the U.S. Congress passed a sweeping health care reform law – the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). Under the Act, states are required to operate and maintain “health insurance exchanges” to provide a menu of low cost, government subsidized insurance plans to help otherwise uninsured people get access to necessary health care.
The PPACA specifically permits a state to prohibit insurance providers that participate in the state exchange from covering elective abortion services. To assure that elective abortion is not included in the Pennsylvania exchange, the Commonwealth must affirmatively opt out by passing a state law. Senate Bill 3 will clearly prohibit the taxpayer supported insurance plans from covering abortion. This legislation is critical if the Commonwealth is to prevent public dollars from being spent on a program which includes elective abortion coverage. Ambiguities in the law could allow that to happen without clear statutory prohibitions in the Commonwealth.
SB 3 could come up for a vote as early as next week. Visit, call, fax, write or e-mail your state Senator to urge his or her support of this important pro-life bill.
Use the tools from the Pennsylvania Catholic Advocacy Network to send an e-mail message today or look up your Senator’s contact information.
