Not just a federal issue
Two bills in 2000 Assembly address the issue from opposite sides
From, The Kentucky Citizen Digest, January/February, 2001.

Taking their cue from the national debate over abortifacients, Kentucky legislators of differing persuasions worked for bills that pushed the debate to the surface in the Commonwealth. Two nearly diametrically opposed bills, HB 450 and HB 489, highlighted this issue in the 2000 General Assembly.

HB 450, sponsored by MaryLou Marzian, D-Louisville, mandated insurance companies to include contraceptive coverage in their insurance plans.  Without doubt, many would have interpreted “contraceptive coverage” to included abortifacients, such as Preven and possibly RU-486.

The other bill, HB 489 known as the “pharmacist conscience clause,” allowed pharmacists to refuse to dispense drugs that conflicted with their moral convictions without repercussions from their employer. Thus, if both HB 450 and HB 489 had passed, the expansion of abortifacients could still have been slowed by pharmacists unwilling to dispense the drugs.

HB 450 eventually passed the Democrat- controlled House by a 71-24 margin. However, before passage, the bill was watered down to exempt coverage for employers who had religious convictions against contraception. More amendments prohibited coverage for abortion inducing drugs and devices such as RU-486. Upon arriving in the Republican-controlled Senate the bill died in committee.

Ironically, HB 489 sponsored by Mark Treesh, R-Owensboro, garnered 47 other co-sponsors —  nearly 10 times more than HB 450 — but died in its House committee. As a result, the abortifacient debate in the Kentucky legislature is at a stalemate. Nonetheless, pharmacists and insurance companies are waiting for the next move to come from the federal government, especially as it is poised to fully approve RU-486 for marketing in the U.S.
 

Key Family Foundation Contacts: Kent Ostrander, Executive Director Martin Cothran, Senior Associate Policy Analyst