It is easy to feel gloomy about the state of reproductive health care access in the United States right now. Anti-choice state legislatures are chipping away at abortion access from all angles, and the Senate is trying to push through a health care repeal bill that would gut Medicaid and penalize people for buying insurance plans that cover abortion.
But it’s not all bad news.
On Wednesday, Oregon’s Senate passed a bill requiring insurers to cover a wide range of reproductive health services ― including abortion ― at zero cost to patients.
House Bill 3391, or the “Reproductive Health Equity Act Of 2017” as it is being called, also extends insurance coverage for reproductive health care to undocumented immigrants and codifies the right to abortion care, even if Roe v. Wade is ever overturned. It also requires that insurers cover vasectomies at no-cost. (The bill does exempt insurers with religious objections to covering abortion or contraception from doing so, but specifies that the state will then step in to help provide coverage.)
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