The House Calendars Committee sent a controversial bill prohibiting the coverage to the full chamber.
On Sunday night, the Texas House Calendars Committee made the decision to reverse a controversial bill that banned abortion insurance coverage from being included in the health plans sold over the exchange.
This stopped the marketplace for Affordable Care Act compliance from selling plans covering abortions.
As a result of the decision of the committee, this abortion insurance bill will now be sent back to the full chamber for a vote. The reversal has to do with Senate Bill 575, by Senator Larry Taylor (R). The committee had previously voted not to place that bill on the lower chamber’s Tuesday calendar. This is the last day in which the House can pass a Senate bill. Following a great deal of debate, the committee reconvened and reconsidered the vote that it had previously made, sending the bill to the House, after all.
The abortion insurance addressed by SB 575 has to do with what has been labeled to be “elective” procedures.
That bill would require that women who are seeking “elective” abortion insurance coverage must purchase supplemental health insurance in order to obtain it.
State Rep. Jonathan Stickland (R-Bedford) had said on Saturday that he would file an amendment to a much milder agency review bill in order to force a House vote on prohibiting abortions based on fetal abnormalities. However, that amendment was later withdrawn by Stickland, in exchange for the agreement by the leaders of the House to send SB 575 forward for a vote.
Initially, the committee had decided not to send the health insurance coverage bill forward, which was in direct contrast with what Stickland had been promised. The committee was allowed to argue the issue in quite a heated debate until it was decided that the only appropriate course of action was to reconsider the previous decision.
When all was said and done, the abortion insurance bill was moved forward at a vote of 8 to 0, with an absence of 7 members, which included all of the Democrats on the committee (Davis and Harless).
