Health care reform – The big abortion compromise
November 9, 2009Jon Brooks Comments OffThe Democrats moved the health care ball a little further down the field this weekend, when the House passed its comprehensive reform bill by a slim margin. In order to gain the necessary votes, however, Speaker and Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi had to allow the inclusion of a restrictive abortion amendment.
From CBS News:
Online reaction has come fast and furious today. Just a sampling of user opinion, from the abortion section of the health care feedback forum on the New York Times web site:
I am against the war and our current prison system, but my taxes go to it regardless. We spend trillions of dollars on weapons and operations that will actually or have the potential to kill real live people and lots of them…But we can’t fork over a couple hundred or a thousand dollars for a woman to have a legal medical procedure? It doesn’t make sense to me.
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All women have a choice on whether or not to take a risk on getting pregnant, therefore that is all the choice they need on whether to get an abortion…Being poor is not an excuse for being ignorant.
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I hope someone in the IRS is taking a good hard look at the Catholic Church and other religious groups that claim tax exemptions and see if this kind of lobbying and other politically partisan activities is consistent with (them)…This is offensive to pro-choice voters and I will not be voting anytime soon for any candidate who caved in to this kind of religious bigotry.
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I’m tired of hearing about pro/anti abortion. We need to work together to prevent unwanted pregnancies through more effective and more palatable contraception methods AND to strengthen social /financial support for families with young children; our society makes it tough on young mothers and young children. A careful look at other first world countries will show better methods of helping people parent their children, such as fully paid childcare. And medical care paid by the government… Let’s talk about what’s possible, not about what a few women do with their bodies.
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I am pro-choice but yet I wholeheartedly support the abortion amendment to H.R.3962. I know that I will enrage many abortions supporters with my rationale but I believe abortion to be a discretionary expenditure (except of course in the case of rape, incest, pregnancy-related life-threatening maternal illness, and certain serious congenital or acquired in-utero fetal malformations/disease). This country is facing a budget crisis and health care costs need to be reigned in; the allocation and utilization of taxpayer dollars to undo what is essentially the unintended consequence of a voluntary act seems wrong…
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I’m a Pro-Choice Catholic…though believe (abortion) should not be treated lightly, (and) is in fact a grave and serious moral problem, I also believe that the state cannot prove that it has enough of an interest in restricting abortion. In other words…we have the freedom *from* the government taking away the right to an abortion, not a freedom *to* have an abortion. The government should neither deny nor aid procurements of abortions.
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After years of fighting for a woman’s right to control her own body, a Democratic President & Congress votes for this medieval legislation? I tell you, Senator Clinton would never have allowed this to happpen had we elected her President.. I feel completely betrayed by my own party. That applause was rifle shot, years of work being gunned down.
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Anyone who believes this provision will be in the final bill should contact me. I have some land to sell them. Pelosi did what was necessary to get votes to pass. But in the end, a group of Dems will put the House and Senate versions together behind closed doors, and compromises such as this will be left on the floor. Politics at its worst.
