On April 1, the Health Care Committee of the Washington State Senate held a two-hour hearing on what its proponents euphemistically call the \u201cReproductive Parity Act,\u201d\u009d and its opponents describe as the \u201cabortion insurance mandate.\u201d\u009d If passed, EHB 1044 would require that if any health insurance plan provided coverage for maternity care, it \u201cmust also provide a covered person with substantially equivalent coverage to permit the voluntary termination of a pregnancy.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
The bill has already passed the Washington House of Representatives, 53-43, but in the Senate it may be a different matter. At the hearing one of the bill\u2019s proponents claimed to have a written commitment from twenty-five senators (a bare majority) to vote for the bill, but from the comments of at least one committee member it appeared that the bill might have trouble making it out of committee. (There is a procedure for a bill to be brought to the floor even if it has died in committee, but such cases are rare.)<\/p>\n
In his inaugural address (\u201cThe World Will Not Wait\u201d\u009d), Jay Inslee, the state\u2019s newly elected Democratic governor, surprised many by featuring the bill as one of his priorities.<\/p>\n