Legislative Update – Two Big Abortion-Related Bills Apparently Will Be Defeated

At the midway point, or halftime, of the 2015 legislative session in Olympia, two  abortion-related bills appear headed for the back burner.

  Senate Bill 5289, which would have required parental notification before a minor receives an abortion, did make it out of committee, but never came to a vote on the Senate floor.  Similar bills have been introduced in past years, but this is the furthest any such measure has ever gotten.  Senator Mike Padden pushed hard for the bill, and the Senate apparently received considerable input from citizens in the form of emails and phone calls.  This bill would have required medical caregivers to notify the parents of a minor prior to them getting an abortion.

 House Bill 1647, the controversial abortion insurance mandate, cleared the House, but will likely be defeated in the Senate.  According to the Family Policy Institute of Washington:

"This bill was a slightly modified version of a bill that has passed the House but has been defeated in the Senate each of the last three years. Like the other bills, it sought to require every private insurance policy in Washington State to cover abortion."

Currently there are a number of insurance plans available in our state that employers can offer employees that cover abortion or birth control.  But this bill would have required EVERY plan to offer such coverage - whether the purchaser wanted it or not.

This bill, says FPI, is likely to 'die' in the Senate, and like similar bills over the last few years, will not become law.

House Bill 2009, which would have eliminated exemptions from vaccinations, is likely also dead.  This bill would have changed the current law, which allows children to be exempted from vaccinations for religious, health or personal reasons by the parents.  The bill cleared the necessary House committees, but was never brought up for a vote before the deadline.