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September 27, 2002 at 8:25:05 PDT
Unborn Children to Get Health Care
By LAURA MECKLER
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON- The Bush administration said Friday that it would classify developing fetuses as unborn children as a way of extending prenatal care to low-income pregnant women, brushing aside complaints that the move is a backdoor way of undercutting abortion rights.
The change allows states to extend health insurance to fetuses - or even embryos - from the moment of conception by enrolling them in the State Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP).
It specifically allows coverage for all fetuses even if their mothers are immigrants who are ineligible for government help. CHIP does not cover any illegal immigrants and only covers legal immigrants who have been in the country for five years. But babies born in the United States are citizens and therefore eligible for assistance.
Because CHIP is aimed at kids, it does not typically cover parents or pregnant women, although states can get permission to include adults if they ask for it. Under these new rules, it will be a routine matter for states to add unborn children to their CHIP programs.
"It represents a speedy new option for states that want to do more to ensure that women get critical prenatal care that will increase the chances that their children are born healthy," Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said in a statement Friday.
He also praised the benefits of prenatal care and called the change a "common-sense, compassionate measure."
The final regulation, first proposed in January, will be published Wednesday in the Federal Register.
Women's and abortion rights groups were outraged by the move, calling it an effort to give the fetus legal status and therefore undermine Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision guaranteeing women the right to abortion.
"To me it's a very offensive backdoor way to get coverage for a fetus," Laurie Rubiner of the National Partnership for Women and Families, said Friday.
The administration says it has nothing do to with abortion.
"This has to do with prenatal care, which is undisputedly very important for the health of mother and the health of the child," HHS spokesman Bill Pierce said Friday. "It's about that issue and that issue alone."
Rubiner said she was particularly outraged that the administration would cover the developing fetus carried by a legal immigrant while supporting the ban on direct benefits for her.
"It's so offensive to immigrant women to say we don't care about you, but if you're pregnant, we'll give your fetus coverage - but never you," she said.
States can already cover pregnant women under their CHIP programs, though they need to get a waiver from the federal government. Two states - New Jersey and Rhode Island - have waivers to cover them.
The new plan does not include any new money for the coverage. Rather, states that want to participate would simply add to their existing programs in which they share the cost of coverage with the federal government.
Thompson has said he also supports legislation pending in the Senate that would allow states to automatically add pregnant women to CHIP, much as poor pregnant women are eligible for Medicaid.
Unborn Children to Get Health Care
By LAURA MECKLER
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON- The Bush administration said Friday that it would classify developing fetuses as unborn children as a way of extending prenatal care to low-income pregnant women, brushing aside complaints that the move is a backdoor way of undercutting abortion rights.
The change allows states to extend health insurance to fetuses - or even embryos - from the moment of conception by enrolling them in the State Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP).
It specifically allows coverage for all fetuses even if their mothers are immigrants who are ineligible for government help. CHIP does not cover any illegal immigrants and only covers legal immigrants who have been in the country for five years. But babies born in the United States are citizens and therefore eligible for assistance.
Because CHIP is aimed at kids, it does not typically cover parents or pregnant women, although states can get permission to include adults if they ask for it. Under these new rules, it will be a routine matter for states to add unborn children to their CHIP programs.
"It represents a speedy new option for states that want to do more to ensure that women get critical prenatal care that will increase the chances that their children are born healthy," Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said in a statement Friday.
He also praised the benefits of prenatal care and called the change a "common-sense, compassionate measure."
The final regulation, first proposed in January, will be published Wednesday in the Federal Register.
Women's and abortion rights groups were outraged by the move, calling it an effort to give the fetus legal status and therefore undermine Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision guaranteeing women the right to abortion.
"To me it's a very offensive backdoor way to get coverage for a fetus," Laurie Rubiner of the National Partnership for Women and Families, said Friday.
The administration says it has nothing do to with abortion.
"This has to do with prenatal care, which is undisputedly very important for the health of mother and the health of the child," HHS spokesman Bill Pierce said Friday. "It's about that issue and that issue alone."
Rubiner said she was particularly outraged that the administration would cover the developing fetus carried by a legal immigrant while supporting the ban on direct benefits for her.
"It's so offensive to immigrant women to say we don't care about you, but if you're pregnant, we'll give your fetus coverage - but never you," she said.
States can already cover pregnant women under their CHIP programs, though they need to get a waiver from the federal government. Two states - New Jersey and Rhode Island - have waivers to cover them.
The new plan does not include any new money for the coverage. Rather, states that want to participate would simply add to their existing programs in which they share the cost of coverage with the federal government.
Thompson has said he also supports legislation pending in the Senate that would allow states to automatically add pregnant women to CHIP, much as poor pregnant women are eligible for Medicaid.
It's more to the crux of the matter.
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