A Northern Virginia lawmaker is leading a push to overturn Gov. Bob McDonnell’s proposal to prohibit a new state health insurance exchange from providing coverage for abortions — likely setting up another showdown over the hot-button issue when the General Assembly reconvenes Wednesday.
Del. Charniele Herring, D-Alexandria, said the amendment McDonnell added to a previously passed bill is ideologically driven and “contrary to free market and free enterprise and the purpose of the bill.”
“The simple reality is that abortion is a legal medical service which is constitutionally protected,” Herring wrote in a letter to the governor.
McDonnell added the abortion-ban amendment to a bill that would allow insurance exchanges to be set up, as required by the new federal health care law. The provision would bar any insurance plans offered through the exchanges from providing coverage for abortions except in the cases of rape, incest or when the mother’s life is in danger.
There are restrictions on federal funding for abortions, but insurance plans offered through the new state exchanges could provide coverage for abortions if the money used to fund them is kept separate from taxpayer-funded subsidies.
McDonnell spokeswoman Taylor Thornley said other states, including Mississippi and Louisiana, have already adopted similar bans and Virginia is simply following suit.
“Gov. McDonnell is confident that the General Assembly will uphold his amendment to this important piece of legislation,” Thornley said.
The politically thorny issue of abortion surfaced during the General Assembly’s regular session earlier this year when it took up a controversial measure requiring abortion clinics in the state to meet hospital-like standards. The measure passed after two pro-life Democrats — Sen. Phillip Puckett of Russell and Sen. Charles Colgan of Prince William — joined with the Senate’s 18 Republicans, creating a 20-20 tie that was broken by Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, a Republican.
Senate Majority Leader Richard Saslaw, D-Fairfax, said he opposed McDonnell’s amendment but that it would probably pass on the same 20-20 vote, with Bolling left to cast the tiebreaker.
