AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - The Texas Senate has approved a bill prohibiting coverage of abortion by some health insurance plans in Texas - despite similar efforts stalling previously.
Monday's 21-10 vote sends Friendswood Republican Sen. Larry Taylor's bill to the state House. It came as activists in the Senate gallery shouted "abortion is healthy care" and briefly unrolled a protest banner before being escorted out.
The proposal bars health insurance plans offered through the Obama administration's health care law from covering the cost of abortions unless policyholders purchase supplemental coverage.
Texas never established health insurance exchanges under the Affordable Care Act, but state policies are offered via federal exchanges. Twenty-five states already restrict abortion coverage in plans purchased through exchanges.
A bill by Taylor doing the same thing stalled in the Legislature last session.