Alaska adopts new rules for abortion payments
Alaska adopts new rules for abortion payments
JUNEAU, Alaska — State regulations take effect next month further defining what constitutes a "medically necessary" abortion for purposes of receiving Medicaid funding.
Notice was sent to the state health department Tuesday that the regulations had been filed by Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell last week. The new rules, blasted by critics as unconstitutional and an unnecessary government intrusion, are scheduled to take effect Feb. 2.
The new certificate to request Medicaid funds features two boxes.
Under the first, a provider would have to certify the pregnancy was the result of rape or incest or the abortion was performed to save the woman's life. The so-called Hyde Amendment, attached to congressional spending bills, allows for federal funds to be used for this option.
Under the second, a provider would have to indicate an abortion was medically necessary to avoid a threat of serious risk to the woman's physical health from continuation of her pregnancy due to "impairment of a major bodily function." Attached is a list of 23 such impairments, including eclampsia, congestive heart failure, coma and a psychiatric disorder that places a woman in "imminent danger of medical impairment of a major bodily function" if an abortion is not performed.
http://www.adn.com/2014/01/07/3262614/alaska-adopts-new-rules-for-abortion.html
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