House committee advances abortion measures           

When the federal health overhaul fully kicks in, Florida residents and small businesses will have a new avenue for buying health insurance, leading lawmakers to move to ban those policies from covering abortions, reports Jim Saunders of the News Service of Florida.

The House and Senate are moving forward with bills banning abortion coverage from policies that will be sold through health-insurance exchanges — marketplaces that will start operating in 2014 as a key part of the federal health law.

The House Health & Human Services Committee on Wednesday voted 11-5 to approve HB 97, sending the proposal to the full House. The Senate version, SB 1414, also has been approved by three committees and is ready to go to the full Senate.

Wednesday’s vote came after a sometimes-emotional debate that included Rep. Janet Cruz, D-Tampa, talking about becoming pregnant and having a daughter while she was in high school. She opposed the bill and said lawmakers need to respect women’s decisions.

“Everyone’s circumstances and health-care needs are different,’’ Cruz said.

At one point, American Civil Liberties Union lobbyist Larry Spalding chastised male lawmakers for making abortion decisions for women. That drew a sharp retort from bill sponsor Matt Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach.

“I hope as a man I can at least be qualified to be pro-life,’’ Gaetz said.

The federal health law, which President Obama and congressional Democrats approved in March 2010, will require almost all Americans to have health insurance starting in 2014.

The insurance exchanges are an important part of carrying out that requirement, as they will provide new markets where individuals and small businesses can buy coverage. Federal subsidies would be available to help low-income people afford insurance.

Florida is challenging the constitutionality of the federal law in a high-profile legal battle. But if it is not successful, it will have to create an insurance exchange — or else the federal government will create an exchange for the state.

Abortion coverage touched off a huge fight in Washington and almost derailed the health law. In the end, a compromise was reached that bars the use of federal funds for abortions but would allow health plans to offer abortion coverage in the exchanges.

In such cases, customers would have to make separate payments — one for abortion coverage and one for the other services covered by a health plan. But the law also allows states to ban abortion coverage in policies sold through the exchanges.

That led Florida lawmakers to pass such a ban during last year’s legislative session. But then-Gov. Charlie Crist vetoed the ban, which was part of a broader bill that included requiring women to undergo ultrasounds before they can have abortions.

The proposal dealing with insurance exchanges was one of three major abortion bills approved Wednesday by the Health & Human Services Committee in identical 11-5 votes. All of the votes were along party lines, with Republicans in favor and Democrats dissenting.

One of the bills (HB 1127) would reverse Crist’s veto and require ultrasounds before all abortions. An earlier version of the bill would have required women to hear descriptions of the ultrasound images, but bill sponsor Elizabeth Porter, R-Lake City, removed that requirement Wednesday.

Supporters say the bill is about making sure women receive as much information as possible before having abortions. But opponents say it interferes with the relationship between doctors and patients.

The other bill that passed Wednesday (HB 1397) includes a number of changes, such as banning any abortions after fetuses reach viability and requiring that new abortion clinics be owned and operated by physicians.