EMILY's List
Insurance company to applicant: Get sterilized
By Emily on 10/16/2009 @ 02:25 PM
We were shocked to learn about a Senate hearing yesterday, during which a witness testified that a prospective insurer denied her application for coverage because she'd had a C-section. Even more outrageous? The insurance company actually suggested -- in a written letter -- that she be sterilized!
It takes a lot to really shock us around here -- we've long been fighting for women to have control over their health care choices, particularly when it comes to reproductive health. But actually encouraging a woman to be sterilized in order to receive crucial insurance coverage? That's beyond horrifying. It's disgusting. Apparently, the company wasn't interested in covering a patient who potentially could have another costly C-section -- and they thought that justified an inexcusable invasion of her privacy.
EMILY's List alum Sen. Barbara Mikulski (MD) said what women everywhere were thinking: "No one in the United States of America, in order to get health insurance, should ever, ever be coerced into getting a sterilization. I find it offensive, and I find it morally repugnant."
Can you imagine this hearing without a woman senator there to speak out for women across the country? We certainly can't. Mikulski has been fighting for American families and women's rights for two decades, and moments like this remind me just how different things would be without her leadership.
Watch the story -- and Mikulski's response -- here:
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