Healthcare reform apparently depends on all but banning abortion
One might think one would be happy about the House being on the verge, literally, of passing their healthcare reform bill. And I had dearly hoped that I would be. In some small ways, I suppose I am. In others, I am outraged.
Mere hours before passing the bill (which as of 8:43 p.m. is not yet passed) an amendment authored by Bart Stupak, and co-sponsored by my congresswoman Kathy Dahlkemper, was put to a vote to gain an additional 40 votes from Democrats. No need to worry about Republicans, they’ve already vowed to vote against the final bill.
Stupak’s bill “explicitly bans federal funding of abortions through the new exchanges created by the law“. Translated that is that any woman who has to get insurance through any type of public option or exchange cannot use their health insurance for abortions.
Yes, of course there are allowances for rape, incest and the mother’s health. They aren’t fanatical pro-lifers. They are simply pathetically desperate to pass something called “healthcare reform” with apparently little thought for what must be brought in and what must fall by the wayside.
I have a many problems with Stupak’s amendment, the means by which it was brought about, and the reason it was brought about. Two are worth mentioning.
First, six lobbyists for the US Conference of Catholic Bishops were actually in Nancy Pelosi’s office as a deal was negotiated. Given Obama’s disavowals of all things lobby related, something is simply not right with that picture.
Second, I already see too much covering of bases on the issue. Case in point are the statements by Rep. Kathy Castor (D-FL) and Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN).
Castor: “It’s unfortunate…But in the end, when the president signs the bill, it will not be as Draconian.”
Both statements are apparently upsetting to Republicans who apparently hoped that the abortion issue would defeat the bill in the Democratic Party. Republicans even doubt, probably rightly so, that the amendment will remain in that form in the final bill.
None of that is really important. What is important is the fact that the end sometimes does not justify the means. Slippery slopes are ever present and giving the federal government that much control over abortion can lead to a scarce few outcomes, none of which bode well from women’s rights and the right to choose.
Yes, healthcare reform is important. But so was national security and the number of Democrats agreeing with Bush and the Republican controlled Congress that warrantless wiretapping was thusly warranted, for lack of a better word, were few and far between. The issue has changed but the basic logic has not. A thousand bits of bad do not good make.
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