Michigan’s legislature passed a controversial bill on Wednesday that bans insurance companies from providing abortion coverage.
Women will be forced to purchase a separate rider to provide such coverage. As the Detroit Free Press reports, women “would have to buy that rider before knowing if they needed an abortion. They would not be able to buy the rider after getting pregnant by any means, including rape or incest.”
Opponents have referred to this as “rape insurance,” as the law essentially requires women to plan in advance in order to have an abortion.
The law reached the state legislature after a petition drive by the group Right To Life gathered 315,477 signatures, or 4 percent of the state’s population, following a veto of a similar bill by Gov. Rick Snyder in 2012.
“This is a huge government overreach and Right to Life went too far again,” said state Rep. Marcia Hovey-Wright, D-Muskegon, who voted against the bill along with the majority of House and Senate Democrats. “Do not underestimate the power of a lot of angry women and the men who support us. A yes vote puts you on the wrong side of history.”
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