With all that’s happening right now and considering that the Republicans have one of the most embarrassing, inept presidents to ever step foot in the White House—you’d think they’d be busy doing damage control and saving what’s left of their party. Not so in Texas. Instead of doing anything remotely productive, Republican lawmakers are busy engaging in their favorite pastime, taking away women’s access to abortion and reproductive care. This week, Governor Greg Abbott signed House Bill 214 into law, which bans insurance coverage for abortion—with no exceptions at all.
Nicknamed the "rape insurance" bill for its cruel lack of exceptions for rape, incest, or fetal abnormalities, HB 214 mandates abortion coverage be removed from all private, state-offered, and Affordable Care Act insurance plans and sold as a separate — and unprecedentedly specific — policy. What this means in theory is that people who want to be covered in the event that they need an abortion will have to purchase extra insurance for it. In practice, it means insurance companies may simply stop covering the procedure altogether, the profitability of an "abortion-only" add-on being questionable at best.
Where do we even begin in understanding how ridiculous and cruel this is? First, it assumes that women would have the money to pay for this extra insurance coverage and also assumes that insurance companies will cover abortions under separate plans. But really, this is about the religious zealots who care not a bit for women’s health and well-being but instead about saving unborn babies. They say they don’t want to be forced to pay for abortions that they disagree with for religious reasons. But the truth is that they don’t want to pay for the babies that women will be forced to have as a result of taking away access to abortions and reproductive health care, either.
As with many such laws, the state GOP's stated purpose is to "prevent those with moral, religious and philosophical objections from having to pay for the procedure." "As a firm believer in Texas values I am proud to sign legislation that ensures no Texan is ever required to pay for a procedure that ends the life of an unborn child," said Governor Abbott in a press release. "Under this new law Texans will not be forced to pay for elective abortions through their insurance plans."
Insurance plans already cover all kinds of things that people might not agree with. Viagra and Cialis, for instance, are covered under certain plans and are covered in some cases by Medicare and Medicaid. But you are unlikely to find women in state legislatures around the country trying to stop erectile dysfunction medication from being covered—especially if they are progressive Democrats. We are far too busy trying to deal with education, income inequality, criminal justice, racism, environmental issues and preserving women’s access to reproductive health care. In a state that leads the developed world in maternal mortality, with black women three times more likely to die from pregnancy complications, it’s both mind-boggling and frustrating that Texas’s Republican lawmakers remain focused on doing whatever they can to limit women’s choice and access to quality care. And it makes even less sense, given that most women in the state are not even using insurance to pay for abortions.
Only a small fraction of insurance plans in Texas cover abortion, and the Hyde amendment has long barred Medicaid — a crucial source of coverage for low-income women, who make up a disproportionate number of abortion patients — from paying for the procedure. Some states work around this by using their own funds; Texas doesn't. Daniel Grossman, an abortion provider in California and a researcher with the Texas Policy Evaluation Project, estimates that while roughly half of the 60,000 people seeking abortions in Texas each year have some kind of insurance, only about five percent use it to pay for their procedure.
Way to go, Texas Republicans. You continue to embarrass yourselves and your party with your hatred of women and our right to live as autonomous human beings entitled to our legal right to privacy—which includes access to abortions. It seems fitting at this moment to wonder how much lower Republicans can sink. Except, sadly, their president proves that there is no bottom to their barrel.