Morning Roundup: Pennsylvania Bill to Ban Insurance Coverage for Abortion

Beth Saunders

Pennsylvania state senator wants to ban insurance coverage of abortion, Montgomery County stands by its CPC bill, pregnant woman accidently given wrong prescription that could cause miscarriage, Nebraska bill would require sex ed, Pittsburgh settles anti-choice protester lawsuit. 

Pennsylvania state senator wants to ban insurance coverage of abortion, Montgomery County stands by its CPC bill, pregnant woman accidently given wrong prescription that could cause miscarriage, Nebraska bill would require sex ed, Pittsburgh settles anti-choice protester lawsuit. 

  • A Pennsylvania bill to prohibit the coverage of abortion in state-run federal insurance exchanges is moving through the legislature. Governor Tom Corbett has said he would sign the bill, but it is unclear whether moderate Republicans from the Philadelphia suburbs will give it the support it needs to become law. The sponsor of the bill, Republican Sen. Don White, said that he felt compelled to push even harder for the legislation after the arrest of Kermit Gosnell. The question is – why? Gosnell did illegal, unsanitary abortions. Does White want MORE women to fall into the hands of people like Gosnell?
  • Despite a recent ruling declaring Baltimore’s crisis pregnancy center signage law unconstitutional, an attorney for Montgomery County, Maryland – which passed a similar law last year – says he stands behind the law. The Montgomery County law requires CPCs to hang signs in their waiting rooms stating that they do not employ medically licensed professionals.
  • A pregnant woman in Colorado was mistakenly given a cancer patient’s prescription for methotrexate, which can cause miscarriage and birth defects – instead of her own prescription for antibiotics. Scary, for sure. The pregnant woman was given charcoal at a hospital, and has been released. But how does Fox News report it? As a pregnant woman being given an abortion drug. The article does say that the drug is sometimes used to end a “troubled pregnancy,” but the main use described by the NIH (linked above) is to treat psoriasis and cancer.
  • Nebraska could soon require all public schools to teach comprehensive, medically accurate sex education. A hearing on a bill introduced by Sen. Barbara Council was held yesterday. If passed, schools will offer the education starting in the 2012 school year. Parents have the choice to opt-out.
  • The city of Pittsburgh has settled a lawsuit with an anti-choice protester who claimed that the city’s buffer zones around a clinic entrance (15 feet) and bubble zones around clients (8 feet) interfered with her ability to harass women entering the clinic, because she had to shout to be heard and couldn’t hand out her shaming pamphlets. An appeals court ruled that the zoning was illegal in 2009, and the city has since decided to just enforce the buffer zone.

Feb 9

Feb 8