Many Republicans in the Alaska State House, including some who claim to be “pro-life,” teamed up with pro-abortion Democrats to kill several pro-life amendments to a bill that would mandate that insurance providers cover a whole range of contraceptives, including drugs that can cause early abortions to newly conceived babies.

Supported by Planned Parenthood-backed Rep. Ashley Carrick (D-Fairbanks), House Bill 17 has pro-life advocates concerned that it will force insurers to cover contraceptives that can kill unborn babies at the earliest stages of development.

While Carrick claimed that her bill doesn’t cover “these types of drugs,” she was adamantly opposed to any amendments that would clearly prohibit them from her bill.

The longstanding dispute over whether some contraceptives can cause abortions, centers on a fundamental disagreement about when a pregnancy has begun. Pro-life advocates generally agree that life (and pregnancy) begins at the moment of conception. Pro-abortion activists, however, claim that “pregnancy” does not technically begin until the already-conceived and developing embryo implants in her mother’s uterus.

During a March 20-21 hearing of House Bill 17, Rep. David Eastman (R-Wasilla) offered a slew of amendments to prevent healthcare insurers, including Medicaid, from being forced to cover the cost of certain contraceptive drugs that have been shown to cause early abortions.

Fully supported by the likes of Planned Parenthood and sponsored by ardent pro-abortion legislators, HB 17 is billed as a contraceptive bill that would reduce Alaska pregnancies by allowing for up to a 12-month supply of various forms of contraception.

Eastman’s first amendment sought to guarantee that health care insurers would not be forced to cover any “abortion inducing drug or a drug or device that has a mechanism of action that destroys the life of an early-developing human embryo.”

That amendment failed on an 18-22 vote, with Republican lawmakers Thomas Baker (Kotzebue), Craig Johnson (Anchorage), Kevin McCabe (Big Lake), and Louis Stutes (Kodiak) voting with the Democrats to defeat the change.

Next, Eastman offered an amendment stating that the proposed law may “not impose disciplinary sanctions on [a] licensee for refusing to fill a prescription contraceptive on moral or religious grounds.”

In a 13-27 vote, this amendment was killed as well. Republicans who joined all the Democrats in killing this provision included Representatives Baker, Julie Coulombe (Anchorage), Craig Johnson, Tom McKay (Anchorage), Mike Prax (North Pole), Justin Ruffridge (Soldotna), Dan Saddler (Eagle River), Stutes and Stanley Wright (Anchorage).

Yet another amendment sought to limit the definition of “prescription contraceptive” to drugs that do not “include a component that is intended to harm a developing embryo.” This would include drugs like Plan B, which intentionally prevent a newly conceived baby from attaching to the uterus.

Once again, Republicans Baker, McKay, Stutes and Wright joined the Democratic block to thwart Eastman’s amendment.

A fourth Eastman amendment attempted to bolster parental rights by including a provision that would make “coverage of prescription contraceptives contingent on notification of the primary insured before a minor is initially administered or dispensed prescription contraceptives.”

This, too, failed along a 12-28 vote with Republicans Baker, Cronk, Craig Johnson, McCabe, McKay, Prax, Ruffridge, Shaw, Stapp and Stutes voting to nix the amendment.

With regards to religious freedom, Rep. Sarah Vance (R-Homer) was able to convince enough GOP lawmakers to support her amendment, which somewhat restricts how the state enforces the proposed contraceptive mandate.

Vance’s amendment states that when the government enforces the proposed law it must demonstrate a “compelling government interest,” and use the “least restrictive means of furthering that interest” before it can impose “burdens on a person’s religious practices.”

This amendment passed 22-18, with all Republicans voting in favor except for Stutes.

In the final vote on the bill, it passed out of the House with a 29-11 margin that included all Democrats, along with Republicans Baker, Cronk, Craig Johnson, McKay, Prax, Ruffridge, Shaw, Stutes, Sumner and Wright.

In order to become law, the bill must still clear the Senate and then be signed by Gov. Mike Dunleavy.

TAKING ACTION

— Click here to read the HB 17.

— Click here to contact members of the Alaska Senate.

— Click here to contact Gov. Mike Dunleavy.

Click here to support Alaska Watchman reporting.