Believe it or not, but most of these people that are pushing for healthcare reform are… oh I dare not say it… liberal. Now liberals often tend to be champions of various people’s rights, and usually included are the ol’ women’s rights. For many godless, socialist, bloodsucking, liberal, social-progressive types the whole issue of abortion is in essence a women’s rights issue. To most of the godfearing, flag fetish, communist-hunting, Glenn Beck following, so-called ‘conservatives’ abortion is in essences about the liberal’s apathy to the killing of babies.
But whatever your view on the topic may be, it certainly is a hot button issue that can kill a political career if not handled properly. This fear undoubtedly contributed to this little number: the Stupak Amendment. The main point of the amendment is,
“No [government] funds… may be used to pay for any abortion or to cover any part of any of the costs of any health plan that includes coverage of abortion”
A lot of the pro-choice voices in the media are expressing their disappointment with the Stupak amend. And it’s not so much that healthcare reform won’t be paying for abortions, but that any plan that someone buys with a tax subsidy (which should be a huge segment of the population) won’t be able to cover abortions. Even if you’re getting insurance through your employer, if they put your plan into the insurance exchange whatever plan you end up with will not cover abortions.
Basically the pro-choicers (baby-killers) are upset because the government is going to make abortion covering health plans uncompetitive, obsolete and most likely very very hard to come by for cash-strapped families. Here’s the NY Times editorial on the matter. Blogger Digby is none to happy about it either.
Fox News doesn’t have ANY stories about the Stupak Amendment since the vote… none. It appears they’ve been too busy breaking the story that Barack Obama went on a shooting spree at Ft. Hood, killing 13 and injuring over 30 people. But Fox does have a pretty craptacular story about Stupak from back on the 7th. Truly they are the undisputed best news agency of today.
The Stupak Amendment is certainly a disappointment. I know I’ve said some sensationalist things up there, but I’m just trying to be outrageous. Birth; life and death; all the scientific comprehension we could ever hope to muster couldn’t simplify these issues for us. These are the philosophical puzzles that reach to the very center of humanity. And I don’t think I’m going to change anyone’s mind with a 500word rambling on the internet.
My point on abortion law is this: the moral obligation we have to the multicellular organisms that will one day become humans should be compatible with our modern values, which include a woman’s right to reproductive control; to not have the womb control a woman’s life.
The Stupak Amendment includes a provision that serves as a glimmer of hope for some,
“Nothing in this section shall be construed as prohibiting any non-federal entity [i.e. people] from purchasing separate supplemental coverage for abortions”
The effect this will have on people’s access to abortion will help define the issue. In a funny way we are taking the GOP route: letting the the free market decide. Will there be an effective supplemental insurance market for abortion coverage? Or will the Stupak Amendment serve to restrict abortion rights in our country? Only time will tell.
- Dick Harvey
By making abortion legal and not funding it like other health care procedures (which it is!) it is making the whole issue about class and race where (lets be honest, mostly white) middle class women have access to abortions and (mostly black and latina) women do not.
Half the people in this country want abortion legalized – half don’t. The compromise? Let well-off white women get them!
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