International Courant
JUNEAU, Alaska — Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy on Wednesday vetoed a bipartisan invoice that will have pressured insurance coverage firms to cowl a yr’s provide of contraceptives at a time, a measure advocates say is very vital to offer entry in rural areas.
In an emailed assertion, Dunleavy spokesman Jeff Turner stated the Republican governor vetoed the invoice as a result of “contraceptives are broadly accessible and forcing insurance coverage firms to offer obligatory protection for a yr is dangerous coverage.”
The measure handed the state legislature overwhelmingly this yr, 29-11 within the Republican-controlled Home and 16-3 within the bipartisan Senate. Insurance coverage firms didn’t oppose it, proponents famous.
“Governor Dunleavy’s veto of HB 17, after eight years of tireless effort, overwhelming neighborhood help, and optimistic collaboration with insurance coverage firms, is deeply disappointing,” stated Democratic Rep. Ashley Carrick, the invoice’s sponsor. “There may be merely no justification for vetoing a invoice that will make sure that everybody in Alaska, no matter the place they dwell, has entry to important drugs like contraception.”
Supporters of the invoice stated the veto would perpetuate limitations that hamper entry to contraception in a lot of the state, together with cities accessible solely by air and for sufferers in Alaska who’ve Medicaid, the place provides of contraception drugs are restricted to at least one month at a time.
“Those that dwell outdoors of our city facilities — year-round or seasonal — deserve the identical entry to contraception as those that dwell close to a pharmacy,” stated Rose O’Hara-Jolley, govt director of Deliberate Parenthood Alliance Advocates within the state of Alaska, in a press launch.
Advocates additionally stated that enhancing entry to contraception would cut back undesirable pregnancies and abortions.
