On Wednesday, Missouri legislators voted in favor to override Gov. Jay Nixon’s veto and approve Senate Bill 749, which will allow insurance companies the option of not covering contraception, abortion or sterilization if they object to the services on moral or religious grounds.
The Missouri House voted 109-45 and the Senate voted 28-6 to approve the bill. A total of 109 votes in the House and 23 in the Senate were required to override the veto.
Arguments that SB 749 infringed upon the right of over 700,000 Missouri women that use some kind of birth control arose between the two parties.
“I do believe that (SB 749) is an anti-woman piece of legislation because the ability of a woman to plan her family and to plan when she has children is extremely important to a woman’s health, career and economic well-being of her family,” Rep. Mary Still, D-Columbia, said.
Still also said that a woman earns her benefits, just like a man earns his, and to take a benefit that is unique to her away has a negative effect on her economic well-being. She voted in favor of the veto.
Peter Brownlie, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri, shared a similar point of view in the Planned Parenthood news release Wednesday.
“Birth control is not just basic, preventive health care for women, it is a pocketbook issue,” Brownlie said in the release. “Without this new birth control coverage benefit, many women will now have to continue paying $15 to $50 a month on top of their premium. When you live paycheck to paycheck, that’s a lot of money!”
According to the release, 77 percent of Americans believe women should have access to birth control.
Sen. John Lamping, one of the bill’s sponsors, argued that vetoing the bill would have led to denying companies their religious freedoms.
“This is not an issue about access,” Lamping said in a news release. “All employees still have access to these services. This is an issue about who pays for them.”
According to current state law, employers are not required to offer health care coverage to their employees. In the release, Lamping said SB 749 is a response to the “mandate … that forces employers to offer health care services even if those services are against their religious beliefs or moral convictions” and the federal Affordable Health Care Act.
Senate Majority Leader Tom Dempsey echoed a similar opinion in the release.
“The stories we are hearing of businesses that are considering dropping their insurance coverage rather than violating their beliefs are alarming,” Dempsey said. “This veto override was extremely important, because it gives employers the option to continue to provide health care benefits without being forced to pay for something that goes against their religious beliefs or moral convictions.”