Just asking: If you are a pro-choice organization watching this health care reform debate unfold, aren’t you just a tad bit ticked off at President Obama for being so forceful about how federal money will NOT go towards paying for abortions?
I mean wasn't Obama talking during the campaign about how reproductive health care (re: abortion) is essential? Hey, I have his Planned Parenthood speech cued up below. As Warner Wolfe would say, "Let's go to the videotape!" Watch below:
Some groups are expressing their disappointment in Obama on this issue. Read the statement below from Nancy Northup, the president of the Center for Reproductive Rights.
"It is lamentable that during a major speech on healthcare reform, the President chose to reinforce a longstanding barrier to women's ability to obtain abortion. For years, the federal government has prohibited federal funds from being used to pay for abortion except under extremely narrow circumstances -- even when a woman's health is jeopardized by her pregnancy. The effect has been millions of women, including those living below the poverty line, military personnel and their dependents, women served by the Indian Health Service, Peace Corps volunteers, and federal employees and their dependents who rely solely on these programs for their medical care are deprived of their right to safe, legal abortion.
"Reproductive health, including decisions about whether or not to have children, cut to the core of a woman's daily reality as well as her well-being. The fact that the President can set out to have a comprehensive discussion of healthcare needs, but end up relegating an essential medical service, only used by women, to an outlier status, is disappointing to say the least. This was a missed opportunity to re-examine the meaning of access to a full range of choices in healthcare for women.
"Abortion is the most common surgical procedure in the United States and one in three women will have one in their lifetimes. Private insurers appreciate that protecting women's health means providing women access to the full range of reproductive health services and a majority offer abortion coverage. The Capps Amendment -- which means that no federal monies will be used for abortion, but does secure access to the service--is a defensive move primarily intended to ward off hostile Congressional amendments to women's abortion coverage. The amendment still segregates abortion from the larger field of healthcare, and should not be mistaken as sound policy. After healthcare reform is enacted, we look forward to a forthright dialogue that puts women's healthcare needs above politics."
Here's the deal. These pro-choice groups have got to be thinking that somehow some way that House and Senate Democrats are going to have their back in terms of making sure abortion is somehow protected and covered under whatever plan comes out of Congress. Case in point: Just look at the Louis Capps amendment in the House. It was spun that it would not allow federal funds for abortion but then why did Henry Waxman and all of his pro-choice colleagues vote for it. Did you notice that?
Look, the bottom line is this: The White House is fully aware that most Americans don't want tax-payer money going to fund abortions so the President can't say he wants that. That's why pro-life groups are keeping a watchful eye on the wording in these Senate and House bills and the amendment process.