Published Friday, March 09, 2012

BY SARAH FAY CAMPBELL
THE NEWNAN TIMES-HERALD

State Senator Mike Crane’s bill restricting state employee health insurance plans from paying for abortion services was one of many approved by the Georgia Senate on “crossover day” Wednesday.

Crossover Day, the 30th legislative day, is the last day a bill can be passed out of either the House or Senate and have a chance to be approved by the other house and signed into law.

In its current form, Senate Bill 438 restricts the state employees’ health insurance plan from paying for abortions as defined under state law, except under special circumstances.

The bill states “this limitation shall not apply when a physician terminates a pregnancy in a manner which, in the reasonable medical judgment of the physician, provides the best opportunity for the unborn child to survive unless… termination of the pregnancy in that manner would pose a greater risk either of the death of the pregnant woman or of the substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant woman than would another available method.”

It further states that the determination of death or impairment can’t be based on a diagnosis of a mental or emotional condition.

And the exception wouldn’t apply if the pregnant woman were to “purposefully engage in conduct which she intends to result in her death or substantial … impairment.”

Crane, R-Newnan, said he will likely work on some wording changes to the bill when it gets to the House. Crane said his fellow senator, Jason Carter, D-Decatur, “brought up some valid questions about some of the language in the bill. … There is some ambiguity about the way it is written.

“We’re going to work to correct that in the House and hopefully get to see it go to the floor of the House. That is a long shot, I’m told,” he said. The House committee may also insert language that makes exceptions for rape or incest, or the committee could change the bill completely.

Crane said the ambiguity issues stem from the language about terminating the pregnancy and giving the child the best opportunity to survive.

“It would not apply if what was being done was actually terminating the pregnancy early in order to help with the viability of the child,” Crane said. “That is where the language gets fuzzy.”

For instance, a tubal pregnancy “gone to term would kill the baby and the mother but … what we wanted the language to say is, in all cases, you protect both lives.”

“The whole goal is you preserve life, and that should be the effort, always,” he said. “I think that is where the debate was interesting. The debate from the other side only seemed to be concerned with one of the lives. I’m concerned with both of them.”

Crane said when the female Democratic senators spoke in opposition to the bill, “for the most part they talked about what they saw as women’s right to choose. Never once did they mention the baby.

“They were passionate about what they had to say. I just completely disagreed with them,” he said.

At one point, many, if not all, of the Democratic female senators “locked arms and walked out of the debate,” Crane said. “That was just their opinion on it. I don’t fault them for it. I can’t agree with it.”

In its original form, Crane’s bill was very simple. It simply said no state employee insurance plan “shall offer coverage for abortion services.”

The changes were made by the Senate Insurance and Labor Committee.

Crane said in writing his bill “I tried to make it very simple.” His intention was “not to pay for abortion services that were designed to terminate the life of the baby.”

“[In committee] they asked, ‘What about an exception for the life or harm to the mother?’ I thought it was a good idea to move forward with that,” he said. “Say there are severe complications — there are any number of variables when you deal with pregnancy,” he said.

Crane is no stranger to pregnancy complications. One of his children was born prematurely, and he and his wife lost a son who was stillborn.

In the bill’s current form, there is no exception for pregnancies when the baby might have serious medical problems that might prevent it from living outside the womb, such as anencephaly or a genetic defect.

In those cases, Crane would prefer to “let life take its course. If the baby survives, it survives.” Sometimes babies with those defects “don’t survive but for a few minutes outside the womb. Some for maybe a few months. Or maybe a few years,” he said.

Sen. Judson Hill, R-Marietta, spoke during the debate about his twin sons, who were born prematurely several years ago. They lived just a very short time after birth, Crane said, but long enough to wrap their hands around their father’s finger.

“We can’t be in the business of destroying life,” Crane said. “You’ve got to stand for life. If you don’t stand for life I don’t see how you can stand for anything,” he said. “It is kind of at the core of who we are.”

Crane said the bill is really just bringing Georgia in line with 16 other states and the federal government. “Medicaid prohibits funding of abortion, with few exceptions,” Crane said.

The Hyde Amendment, which was originally passed in 1976 and has been renewed multiple times, prohibits the use of federal funds for abortion, except for the life or safety of the mother, rape or incest, he said.

“My goal is that we should most certainly be in the business of protecting all life and we should not be in the business of taking taxpayer dollars and funding elective abortions,” Crane said. Most people don’t realize state insurance even pays for the abortions, he said. It averages $350,000 to $400,000 per year, he said.

“Now some taxpayers may be perfectly fine with that, the ones that think abortion is just a medical procedure,” Crane said. “But for the majority of Georgians, I don’t find that to be the case.”

© 2011 The Newnan Times-Herald Inc., Newnan, Georgia.