The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Obama Administration have issued an interim rule which restricts abortion access for women who would need to purchase health care coverage from the high-risk pools (otherwise known as the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan).

This means that the women who are most vulnerable, women with pre-existing conditions, such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer, HIV/AIDS, kidney failure, and other conditions, chronic illnesses, or disabilities are being sharply cut off from access to abortion coverage. Even if they use their own funds from pockets that may already be stretched thin.

This new rule assumes that women are incapable of making important health care decisions, when they are already possibly handling many important health care concerns, and presumes to make an incredibly important one for them. Many of these long-term conditions could be further exacerbated by carrying a pregnancy to term, or could in fact be outright dangerous, in addition to pregnancy already being demanding of a fully healthy and abled body. This decision should not be made by lawmakers, but by each individual woman, weighing what she is willing and capable of.