The push for insurers in Washington to cover abortion if they offer maternity care ended due to a budget battle.

Abortion reform demonstration, Seattle, Washington 1970. [img src]

Washington state was in the process of becoming the first state to require insurers to cover abortion services if they also covered maternity care. But that bill has died due to Republican maneuvering in the Senate.

Via The Seattle Times:

The bill was caught up in a Friday afternoon Republican budget coup, in which the GOP peeled off the necessary three Democratic votes to introduce an austere budget plan. The abortion measure, HB 2330, had passed the House and Democrats expected it to have the votes necessary in the Senate, but two attempts to bring it to the floor were narrowly voted down in the aftermath of the budget coup. Sex. Abortion. Parenthood. Power. The latest news, delivered straight to your inbox. SUBSCRIBE

And once again, women’s access to abortion is used as a bargaining chip by politicians.