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A bill introduced by Southeastern Wisconsin lawmakers State Sen. Rich Zipperer (R-Pewaukee) and State Rep. Robin Vos (R-Racine) would prevent the state’s federally required health insurance exchange from offering coverage for abortion – except in limited circumstances, such as when ending the pregnancy is needed to save the mother’s life.

The federal law requires states to establish exchanges by 2014 to sell health plans to individuals and small employers. Plans offered on the exchange will be eligible for federal subsidies, but no federal subsidies can be used for abortion coverage.

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But some states are not satisfied with that restriction and want to prevent any private insurers in a health exchange from offering abortion coverage. Wisconsin would devote some resources to designing and administering the health exchange.

The legislation would “prevent private citizens from using dollars to buy private insurance coverage that includes abortion services,” complained Nicole Safar, a legal and policy advisor for Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin, at a public hearing on the bill on Wednesday before the Senate Public Health, Human Services and Revenue Committee.

State law in Wisconsin prohibits spending public dollars on abortions unless the procedure is “medically necessary to save the life of the woman,” the pregnancy was the result of rape or incest or continuing it would result in “grave, long-lasting physical health damage to the woman.”

The bill would extend the same exceptions to the private health insurance plans offered on the exchange, meaning insurers could only sell plans covering abortions in those circumstances.

According to Planned Parenthood, at least nine other states have already passed bills similar to the one just introduced in Wisconsin. The federal law allows states to block abortion coverage within plans sold through their exchanges by passing such legislation.

In states where plans offer abortion coverage, that coverage is exempted from federal subsidy and purchasers of it are required to pay for it separately from the rest of their coverage.

Currently, most private health insurance plans offer abortion coverage.

“It’s wrong for the government to take away insurance coverage for a legal medical procedure,” testified Stacey Harbaugh from the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin. “This will not do anything to reduce the demand for abortion services in our state.”

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