Roundup: Concerned Women for America Not So Concerned About Health of Americans

Sep 1, 2009, 12:30pm

Jodi Jacobson

Despite mountains of facts, evidence and analysis to the contrary, people like Wendy Wright of Concerned Women of America continue their efforts to mislead the American public on health reform. The newest claim? Health reform is a "threat to life and freedom."

Concern Women for America Not So Concerned About Health

The far right wing in the United States continues to drink some powerful Koolaid. Despite mountains of facts, evidence and analysis to the contrary, people like Wendy Wright of Concerned Women of America continue their efforts to mislead the American public on health reform. The newest claim? Now health reform is a "threat to life and freedom," according to Wright and others with whom she is affiliated.

"The current legislation would cover abortion, even though Congressmen
around the country are trying to claim to their constituents that it
doesn’t cover abortion," she says. "And it sets up a system that would
end up coercing the elderly, the disabled, and others to not receive
the kind of healthcare that they need."

Wright is joined by other leaders of the far right. John Tomasic of the Colorado Independent writes that:

Two conservative leaders in Colorado, Archbishop Charles Chaput and
state Senator Greg Brophy, R-Wray, are advancing the position that no
health reform is better than the reform presently being proposed by
Democratic leaders in Washington. It’s a refreshingly honest if
shockingly hard-line position to adopt in the face of a national crisis
that affects people in the most immediate way every hour of every day.

When vast percentages of Americans take it as a given that the
national health-care system is broken, conservatives asking federal
lawmakers to pass no reform this year is remarkable, even if it’s the
same effective position Republicans across the country have adopted and
one we will hear advanced in perhaps increasingly clear tones as the
health-reform debate continues on Capitol Hill this month.

Apart from the fact that every single one of these claims has proved false over and over, the real question is: What is their plan to address the health care crisis? Some 40-odd million people today in the United States are not receiving the "health care they need." I don’t hear Wright or the others offering any concrete suggestions on where to go from here to ensure all Americans have access to the care they need to thrive and survive.

September 1:

OneNewsNow: Pro-life group suggests new option for healthcare reform

Docuticker: Reducing Unintended Pregnancy and Unsafely Performed Abortion Through Contraceptive Use

Catholic Exchange: Pro-Abortion Kennedy Lauded as “Champion for Those Who Had None” at Funeral Mass

My SA: S.A. teens keep having kids

Dallas News: Dallas leads nation in repeat teen births

WaPo: Bob McDonnell, Culture Warrior

The Week: Krugman and Douthat both wrong on Kennedy

Gateway: Abortion debate continues at major rally in Bellevue

The Australian: Hope for end to abortion impasse

WaPo: Abortion Stigma Affects Doctors’ Training And Choices

August 31: