Michigan Will Save All The Fetuses With Exciting New 'Rape Insurance' Law, For Freedom
Congratulations, Michigan Right To Lifers! You pushed through a very important law that will encourage women to keep their babies by banning insurance companies from covering abortion, unless policyholders purchase a separate rider. Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder had already vetoed a previous version of the bill, but it was reintroduced through a citizens' petition, which allows the bill to become law without the governor's signature, a nice little end-run that allows terrible but popular ideas to become law. Opponents of the legislation note that since the rider cannot be purchased once a woman becomes pregnant -- even if by rape or incest -- it requires women who want the option of abortion following a rape to plan ahead, leading some to call the law a "rape insurance" act.
State Senate Minority Leader Gretchen Whitmer called the law "one of the most misogynistic proposals I’ve ever seen in the Michigan Legislature,” and said during a hearing Wednesday that the law
“tells women who are raped … that they should have thought ahead and bought special insurance for it.”
“The fact that rape insurance is even being discussed by this body is repulsive,” she added.
Whitmer went on to tell the story of her own rape, 20 years ago while she was in college, saying she was thankful it hadn't resulted in a pregnancy:
"Because I can’t imagine going through what I went through and then having to consider what to do about an unwanted pregnancy from an attacker,” she said. Whitmer continued, “If this were law then and I had become pregnant, I would not be able to have coverage because of this. How extreme does this measure need to be? I’m not the only woman in our state that has faced that horrible circumstance…. I think you need to see the face of the women you are impacting by this vote today.
On the other hand, you had compelling pro-Freedom ideas like this, from state Rep. Nancy Jenkins:
“I don’t think elective abortion should be a part of insurance ... This doesn’t affect access to abortion. It will still be legal when this law takes effect. Who should be required to pay? Not Michigan taxpayers.”
That's a pretty nice little dance from "policyholders" to "taxpayers," Ms. Jenkins -- well played!
With the passage of the new measure, Michigan is now the ninth state to restrict private insurance from covering abortion services. Because the only thing more important than the free market is making sure that slutty women don't take advantage of it to escape the consequences of their slutty sexing.
[ Detroit Free Press / MSNBC ]
You can't get consumer protection legislation passed to make insurance companies honor purchased policies but you can legislate what insurance isn't allowed to cover ? Assholes, the lot of them.
The Republicans want to be the part of forced birth. Even for forced pregnancy. Just to say it, they should put their money where their mouth is. A woman who gives birth to a child of rape will be fully supported by the state financially. A tax increase may be necessary.