Equal Access to Abortion Coverage in Health Insurance (EACH Woman) Act of 2017

Summary: Equal Access to Abortion Coverage in Health Insurance (EACH Woman) Act of 2017 This bill requires the federal government: (1) to ensure coverage for abortion care in public health insurance programs including Medicaid, Medicare, and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP); (2) as an employer or health plan sponsor, to ensure coverage for abortion care for participants and beneficiaries; and (3) as a provider of health services, to ensure that abortion care is made available to individuals who are eligible to receive services. The federal government may not prohibit, restrict, or otherwise inhibit insurance coverage of abortion care by state or local governments or by private health plans. State and local governments may not prohibit, restrict, or otherwise inhibit insurance coverage of abortion care by private health plans.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Equal Access to Abortion Coverage in 
Health Insurance (EACH Woman) Act of 2017''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) Affordable, comprehensive health insurance that 
        includes coverage for a full range of pregnancy-related care, 
        including abortion, is critical to the health of every woman.
            (2) Neither a woman's income level nor her type of 
        insurance should prevent her from having access to a full range 
        of pregnancy-related care, including abortion services.
            (3) No woman should have the decision to have, or not to 
        have, an abortion made for her based on her ability or 
        inability to afford the procedure.
            (4) Since 1976, the Federal Government has withheld funds 
        for abortion coverage in most circumstances. As a 2017 analysis 
        by the Guttmacher Institute shows, this affects women of 
        reproductive age in the United States who are insured through 
        the Medicaid program, as well as women who receive insurance or 
        care through other Federal health plans and programs. Of women 
        aged 15-44 enrolled in Medicaid in 2015, 58 percent lived in 
        the 35 States and the District of Columbia that do not cover 
        abortion, except in limited circumstances. This amounts to 
        roughly 7.5 million women of reproductive age, including 3.5 
        million women living below the Federal poverty level. Women of 
        color are disproportionately likely to be insured by the 
        Medicaid program: Nationwide, 31 percent of Black women and 27 
        percent of Hispanic women aged 15-44 were enrolled in Medicaid 
        in 2015, compared with 15 percent of White women.
            (5) Moreover, 25 States also prohibit abortion coverage in 
        private insurance plans within or beyond health insurance 
        marketplaces under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care 
        Act, according to an analysis of State policies by the 
        Guttmacher Institute.
            (6) A report by the Center for Reproductive Rights details 
        how restrictions on abortion coverage interfere with a woman's 
        personal decisionmaking, with her health and well-being, and 
        with her constitutionally protected right to a safe and legal 
        medical procedure.
            (7) Restrictions on abortion coverage have a 
        disproportionate impact on low-income women, women of color, 
        immigrant women, and young women, according to reports by both 
        the Center for American Progress and the Guttmacher Institute. 
        Also according to the reports, these women are already 
        disadvantaged in their access to the resources, information, 
        and services necessary to prevent an unintended pregnancy or to 
        carry a healthy pregnancy to term.

SEC. 3. ABORTION COVERAGE AND CARE REGARDLESS OF INCOME OR SOURCE OF 
              INSURANCE.

    (a) Ensuring Abortion Coverage and Care Through the Federal 
Government in Its Role as an Insurer, Employer, or Health Care 
Provider.--The Federal Government shall--
            (1) ensure coverage for abortion care in public health 
        insurance programs including Medicaid, Medicare, and the 
        Children's Health Insurance Program;
            (2) in its role as an employer or health plan sponsor, 
        ensure coverage for abortion care for participants and 
        beneficiaries; and
            (3) in its role as a provider of health services, ensure 
        abortion care is made available to individuals who are eligible 
        to receive services in its own facilities or in facilities with 
        which it contracts to provide medical care.
    (b) Prohibiting Restrictions on Private Insurance Coverage of 
Abortion Care.--
            (1) Federal restrictions.--The Federal Government shall not 
        prohibit, restrict, or otherwise inhibit insurance coverage of 
        abortion care by State or local government or by private health 
        plans.
            (2) State and local government restrictions.--State and 
        local governments shall not prohibit, restrict, or otherwise 
        inhibit insurance coverage of abortion care by private health 
        plans.

SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of the Congress that--
            (1) the Federal Government, acting in its capacity as an 
        insurer, employer, or health care provider, should serve as a 
        model for the Nation to ensure coverage of abortion care; and
            (2) moreover, restrictions on coverage of abortion care in 
        the private insurance market must end.

SEC. 5. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.

    Nothing in this Act shall be construed to have any effect on any 
Federal, State, or local law that includes more protections for 
abortion coverage or care than those set forth in this Act.

SEC. 6. SEVERABILITY.

    If any portion of this Act or the application thereof to any person 
or circumstances is held invalid, such invalidity shall not affect the 
portions or applications of this Act which can be given effect without 
the invalid portion or application.