Stance on contraceptives frustrates activist

Utah lawmakers are sending contradictory messages to women this legislative session, a frustrated Karrie Galloway, executive director of Planned Parenthood of Utah, said Wednesday.

On the one hand, lawmakers have overwhelmingly supported measures to curb abortion within the state. On the other, they voted Wednesday not to require Utah insurance companies to extend contraceptive coverage to women.

"There's no integrity to the system," Galloway said after a 2-2 vote in the Senate Health and Human Services Committee killed SB42, sponsored by Sen. Scott McCoy, D-Salt Lake.

"Those who voted against letting the Senate even discuss it on the floor don't get the importance of contraceptives to women," she said.

Of the all-male committee, Sen. Allen Christensen, R-Ogden, and Senate President John Valentine, R-Orem, voted against SB42. Sens. McCoy and Brent Goodfellow, D-West Valley, voted to advance the bill to the Senate floor.

"I want to believe these men care about women," Galloway said. "(But) I have to question it. Too often it's men telling me the assistance I can have to be healthy. To have my children be healthy."

Proponents of SB42, who have been pushing for the contraceptive coverage for nearly a decade, say it as an important reproductive health issue for women, allowing for effective family planning and healthier pregnancies.

"Contraception is a huge component of what women need to keep themselves healthy, (and) plan their pregnancy so we can have good outcomes to pregnancies in the state," said Dr. Cynthia Jones on behalf of the Utah chapter of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

Opponents, however, say the issue is more about the effect of state-imposed mandates on small business owners and insurance companies.

Kelly Atkinson, executive director of the Utah Health Insurance Organization, said mandated coverage would give large insurance companies an unfair advantage over smaller companies.

It would also, he said, have a detrimental impact on small business owners already struggling with increasing health care costs.

In voting against the bill, Valentine cited his long-standing record of opposing mandated health care coverage of any kind.

Although he doesn't disagree that legislative mandates often have the effect of driving up costs, McCoy said, the argument "has nothing to do with this bill."

Most insurance companies in Utah already provide contraceptive coverage in many of their plans, according to Atkinson's figures.

With that in mind, McCoy said, SB42 would simply codify what is already largely common industry practice and prevent a backslide in coverage. The senator criticized the business argument as "an easy way to avoid some of the issues out there that might exist about women's reproductive health rights."

Galloway agreed, indicating that she will return next year to continue to press for fairness for women in the health care system.

"I will never stop fighting," she said, "but my hope wanes."

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