Reproductive Freedom

The ACLU of Washington has filed a lawsuit seeking to have Skagit Regional Health comply with Washington’s Reproductive Privacy Act (RPA).  The suit is part of a new statewide effort by the ACLU to ensure that all public hospitals are complying with the RPA.

The ACLU is urging Washington State University’s Board of Regents to decline to support the financing of a new building unless all medical training and practices there will be unrestricted by religious doctrine.

Today, a combination of Washington State Senate and House Democrats will hold a briefing on the Reproductive Parity Act (RPA) in coalition with women’s rights and civil liberties groups. The briefing is scheduled for 2 p.m. in Senate Hearing Room 1 at the Capitol.

WA – Today, Representative Eileen Cody (D-West Seattle) is introducing HB 2148, the Reproductive Parity Act (RPA), for public hearing in the State House Health Care and Wellness Committee in Olympia. First introduced in 2012, the RPA would hold insurance companies accountable to women by requiring that they cover abortion care if they cover maternity care. Despite public support and passing the House twice, the RPA has been blocked twice in the Senate. Now, with some insurance companies failing to cover abortion in their plans through the new State Health Benefit Exchange, the need to pass the RPA is urgent in order to protect women’s privacy and freedom to make the healthcare decisions that are right for them and their families.

New Certificate of Need review requirements are a step forward in holding merging hospitals accountable, but more changes are needed.