Anti-abortion democrats are threatening to kill
health care reform if there is any chance that federal funding might go
towards funding abortion procedures. (see this)
Millions of people in the US go without adequate health care because
they can’t afford it and these uptight white boys are going withhold
health care reform that would at least attempt to get some of these
people health care because they are worried that some women will use
their new health care to obtain abortions. Is it just me or are these
boys just a bunch of whiners?

First of all, the Hyde Amendment, which prevents states from using
federal money to pay for abortions in State Medicaid programs is
discriminatory and unjust. It is a big slap in the face of low-income
women who are effectively being told that because they are poor, they
aren’t entitled to the same reproductive rights as women who can afford
private insurance. So, all this health care reform business aside, the
Hyde Amendment should be repealed on the grounds that it is unjust (you
know, freedom and justice for all? remember that?). Separate
legislation also prohibits federal employees, members of the military
and recipients of Indian Health Services from obtaining abortions under
their health care. Again, denying rights to those Native American
women, military personnel and female federal employees. Apparently, in
the United States, you are only entitled to reproductive rights if you
can pay for them yourself.

Second, singling out abortion from all other medical procedures when
talking about health care reform is sexism. It is discrimination
against women, pure and simple. I no longer buy the moralistic
arguments of the anti-abortion community who claim that the public has
a right to refuse to pay for things they find morally reprehensible. I
don’t have that right. I think the war in Iraq, the war in Afghanistan
and the building of nuclear energy facilities and nuclear weapons are
morally reprehensible, but I don’t get the option to refuse to pay for
those. The defense bill doesn’t get dissected and publicly debated
(though, maybe it should), why should health care? Do we, as a nation,
believe that access to quality health care for everybody is important?
Then we should fund it. All of it. No one should be given the right to
pick and choose what health care someone else needs or should be given
access to. Repeal the Hyde Amendment and start funding health care,
comprehensive health care for EVERYBODY.

Refusing public money for abortion does not stop abortions. It
restricts access for our most vulnerable populations and makes it
harder for women who are already struggling – but it doesn’t stop
abortions. Study after study has shown that restricting access to
abortion does not stop abortions, does nothing to prevent abortions –
it only makes them unsafe and riskier for women. What DOES prevent
abortions is access to contraception, comprehensive sex education and
overall better access to health services. The nations with the lowest
abortion rates are the ones where abortion is free and accessible.

Republicans and Democrats who are farting around health care reform
and making a stink about abortion, aren’t concerned about stopping
abortion. They are using women’s lives and women’s bodies to preserve a
broken health care system that they and many of their friends reap huge
profits from. They are using the anti-abortion crowd to stir up a
frenzy of anti-reform that would not exist if they just talked about
health care reform. This country’s health care system is sick and the
way politicians are using women’s reproductive health as a bargaining
chip is even sicker.