The Patient Protection and Affordable
Care Act (ACA) will make significant changes to health coverage for
women, expanding their access to coverage and broadening
the health benefits that many will receive. Coverage for abortion
services, however, was addressed separately under health reform. As
result, the extent of abortion coverage that women will receive once ACA
is fully implemented in 2014 will depend largely
on policies enacted at the state level as well as choices that plans
and consumers will make in terms of coverage of abortion services. This
brief summarizes the major insurance coverage provisions of the ACA
that are relevant for women of reproductive age,
reviews current federal and state policies on abortion coverage and how
they may be modified under health reform, and discusses the potential
impact of the federal legislation on women’s access to abortion
coverage.
Issue Brief (.pdf)
