The prospects for progressive reproductive health legislation don’t look any better on the state level. In 2010, the District of Columbia started providing abortion funding for low-income women, something the district was barred from doing for nearly three decades. But Republican lawmakers will fight to reimpose the ban, and to make sure similar bans stay in place in the states.
Also last year, lawmakers in 14 states reacted to federal healthcare reform by introducing measures to limit coverage of abortion in the new insurance exchanges. Arizona, Mississippi and Missouri now severely restrict abortion coverage in the exchanges, and Louisiana and Tennessee did away with abortion coverage altogether except in extreme cases.
Lawmakers in Nebraska and Florida are already moving to restrict coverage in the exchanges in 2011, and don’t be surprised if other states follow suit.
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