Senator Whitmer Shares Personal Story in Opposition to GOP's Pre-purchase Rape Insurance Bill

[Tx4obama]

On December 11, 2013, Senator Whitmer shared a deeply personal story as part of her testimony against legislation to force women in Michigan to pre-purchase rape insurance riders as a part of their health insurance coverage.

More info in DU LBN here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014670998

[Tx4obama]

1. New Michigan Abortion Law Requires Women To Buy Something That Doesn't Even Exist Yet

New Michigan Abortion Law Requires Women To Buy Something That Doesn't Even Exist Yet

Michigan women will have to purchase a separate rider if they want their health insurance to pay for an abortion, after the state's Legislature on Wednesday banned most public and private plans from covering abortion as a medical procedure.

Women must buy the rider before they become pregnant in order to have abortion coverage, once the law goes into effect in March. Women who become pregnant through rape or incest must already have the rider in place for an abortion to be covered, leading some opponents to dub the riders, "rape insurance."

But currently, insurance abortion riders don't actually exist in Michigan, the law's opponents say.

"There are no riders in Michigan that we are aware of," Lori Lamerand, CEO of Planned Parenthood of Mid and South Michigan, told The Huffington Post. "There are some riders available for some procedures, but there are certainly no riders for abortions here."

Elizabeth Nash is the state issues manager at the Guttmacher Institute, a nationally recognized nonprofit reproductive health institute. "The riders don't exist," she told The Huffington Post. "There's no cost information. The riders just don't exist."

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Full article here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/12/abortion-rider_n_4433040.html