NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee and South Carolina are joining five other states in extending health care coverage to women with low-to-modest incomes for a full year after childbirth, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra announced on Friday.
The expansion of Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program comes as the U.S. Supreme Court could be poised to overturn women’s constitutional right to abortion.
That could make the coverage more urgently needed than ever if more women, especially older women or those in poorer health, end up carrying pregnancies to term.
In Tennessee, a trigger law would outlaw abortion in the state if Roe v. Wade were overturned.
South Carolina has a law banning most abortions after six weeks, and Republican Gov. Henry McMaster has said he would be willing to recall lawmakers to consider further restrictions, were Roe to be overturned.
