California Bill To Make Vasectomies Cheaper Goes to Governor (AP via Snopes)
Associated Press
Published 1 September 2022
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Months after making abortions cheaper for women, California lawmakers have now voted to make vasectomies cheaper for men.
The bill passed Wednesday and now goes to Gov. Gavin Newsom. If he signs it, California would become the eighth state to do this for vasectomies — joining Washington, Oregon, New Mexico, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey and Vermont.
Earlier this year, California passed a law banning private insurance companies from charging people things like co-pays and deductibles for abortions. That makes it cheaper for women with private insurance to get an abortion — something Democrats wanted to do in advance of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade. Six states — California, Illinois, Oregon, New York, Maryland and Massachusetts — ban out-of-pocket costs for abortions.
State senators on Wednesday voted to do the same thing for a vasectomy — the medical procedure that sterilizes men. Starting in 2024, the bill would make sure men on private insurance plans could get vasectomies at no additional cost other than what they pay for their monthly premiums, saving an average of $341.
“Californians must be able to decide for themselves if and when they have children,” state Sen. Connie Leyva, the bill’s author, said in a statement after it passed. There was no debate on the Senate floor.
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more: https://www.snopes.com/ap/2022/09/01/california-bill-to-make-vasectomies-cheaper-goes-to-governor/