States opting out of abortion plans

States increasingly are enacting legislation to opt out of a provision in the new federal health care law that would require coverage for abortion in “insurance exchanges.”

For Planned Parenthood in Michigan, however, the health care law is playing a role in the opening of a Detroit-area clinic where abortions likely will be performed.

Nebraska governor signs pro-life measure

Gov. Dave Heineman signed the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act last month, making Nebraska the first to ban abortions after 20 weeks.

LB 1103 asserts that pre-born children experience pain during an abortion.

Mary Spaulding Balch, state legislative director for the National Right to Life Committee, said research has shown that at 20 weeks, pre-borns have all the receptors necessary to feel pain.

“Doctors who do routine surgery on unborn children now use anesthesia to make sure those unborn children do not feel pain,” she said.

States opt out of paying for abortion in health care

Concern over federal funding of abortion in the health care reform law has prompted several states to move toward opting out.

Tennessee is the first state to get a bill to its governor. It prohibits taxpayers from funding abortion. Lawmakers in Georgia, Oklahoma, Virginia and Louisiana are all considering similar measures.