MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- The state Assembly has approved a Republican bill that would tighten restrictions on what types of abortions state health insurance plans can cover.
State health insurance plans currently cover only medically necessary abortions. But state law doesn't define a medically necessary abortion.
The bill would allow state health insurance plans to cover abortions only in cases of rape, incest, to preserve a mother's health or if a doctor certifies the procedure was medically necessary to save the woman's life or avoid long-term damage to her health.
Assembly Democrats complained that the bill is an ideological attack on women's health care, but Republicans control the chamber and in the end the bill passed 61-35. It goes next to the state Senate.
An identical bill died in the Senate in 2013. It's unclear if the proposal has enough support to get out of that house this time around.
