TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Critics challenging a Kansas law restricting private health insurance coverage for abortions haven't shown that it burdens women seeking to terminate their pregnancies, attorneys representing the state's insurance commissioner argued in federal court filings Friday.
Lawyers for Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger also defended the 2011 law as a policy likely to give the public a better understanding of the costs of obtaining abortions.
The attorneys representing Praeger asked U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson to uphold the law and reject a challenge from the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas and Western Missouri before a lawsuit filed by the group goes to trial. Last year, shortly after the law took effect, the ACLU sued Praeger, whose office regulates insurance companies.
The law prohibits insurance companies from offering coverage for abortions in their general plans, except when a woman's life is in danger. Kansas residents or employers who want abortion coverage must buy supplemental policies, known as riders.
Last month, the ACLU asked Robinson to strike down the law before a trial of its lawsuit, arguing the statute has made it more difficult to obtain abortions, penalizing women who exercise a constitutional right to terminate their pregnancies. But the attorneys representing Praeger said the ACLU hasn't presented evidence that individual women who've sought abortions have been unable to obtain them.
"Because the law does not impose an undue burden on a woman's ability to make a decision to have an abortion, the balancing and resolution of the various interests in this particular setting is most appropriately left to the political process and our elected leaders," Praeger's attorneys wrote in a legal memo accompanying their request to have the law upheld.
ACLU officials did not return telephone messages left at their Kansas City, Mo., offices seeking comment. In past court filings, the group has argued that the law was designed to restrict access to abortion by eliminating one way of paying for the procedures and forcing women to bear up to thousands of dollars in medical costs themselves.
The law was among half a dozen major anti-abortion initiatives approved by Kansas legislators and signed into law by Republican Gov. Sam Brownback since he took office in January 2011 and called on lawmakers almost immediately to create "a culture of life."
Supporters of the insurance restrictions contended people who oppose abortion shouldn't be forced to pay for such coverage in a general health plan. Attorneys for Praeger — a Republican who supported abortion rights in the past while serving in the Legislature — said the law promotes childbirth over abortion, lowers insurance costs and protects the consciences of abortion opponents.
But Praeger's attorneys also suggested the law will lead to better-informed decisions about abortion because deciding to pay for the procedure out-of-pocket or buy an insurance rider "necessarily results in a fuller understanding of the actual costs of an abortion."
The insurance commissioner's lawyers also cited a statement from a Planned Parenthood official that only 6 percent of the patients obtaining abortions at its clinic in the Kansas City suburb of Overland Park had insurance coverage for services they received.
Also, the same official said the clinic's decision in October 2011 to increase the cost of abortions by $50 per procedure didn't have anything to do with the insurance law. The Planned Parenthood clinic's typical fees now range from $600 to $1,675, based on the week of the pregnancy, according to the official's statement.
"The Law does absolutely nothing to increase what doctors or clinics charge for an abortion, no matter who pays for such abortions or how they pay for them," Praeger's attorneys argued. "Nor does the Law prevent providers from performing abortions."
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