Alaska Restrict Medicaid Payment for Abortions (HB 173)

HB 173 would have further defined when an abortion was considered “medically necessary” in order to be covered by the Alaska Medicaid Program.  Under the law, the Alaska Medicaid Program would not be allowed to pay for abortion services unless the abortion services were “medically necessary” or for a pregnancy that was the result of rape or incest.

“Medically necessary” was defined as a “physician’s objective and reasonable professional judgment after considering medically relevant factors, an abortion must be performed to avoid a threat of serious risk to the life or physical health of a woman from continuation of the woman’s pregnancy.”

The law provided a list of 23 physical conditions that would qualify a person for a medically necessary abortion. HB 173 did not include any consideration of mental illness or psychiatric disorders.

STATUS

HB 173 was the House companion bill to SB 49. It failed to pass but SB 49, passed and was signed into law by Gov. Parnell on April 17, 2014.

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