I know that it's not everyone's favorite topic to discuss, but abortion has somehow got itself back into the political limelight after a little hiatus. More important issues like a recession and military efforts have been receiving more discussion over the past couple of years, but abortion is back and playing a large role in one of the biggest bills this country may ever come across.
Some members of the house and senate have big decisions looming for them. They can vote for the healthcare bill (that now will only require 51 votes in the senate) and go against their pro-life belief or not vote for it and play a large role in the possible demise of a bill that would drastically change our country.
A lot of the pro-life supporters view this healthcare bill as a proponent for abortions. They point to a $7 billion investment to community health centers that may or may not offer abortions. Abortions are not even discussed in the healthcare bill and many politicians have stated that this healthcare bill will not include abortions because of the same stance they have had for the last 30 years. That stance being that the federal government will not pay for abortions.
This scenario is very interesting on both ends because you have two groups of people that can look somewhat hypocritical. Some politicians can look hypocritical by voting for something that seemingly goes against one of their core beliefs (pro-life). You also have the pro-life supporters who are against a bill that would provide health insurance to millions. Considering how many people die every year from lack of health insurance it would seem that anyone voting this bill down would be the opposite of pro-life. I know pro-life pertains to abortions, but it is hard to not look hypocritical when you claim to be pro-life; yet you vote a bill down that would undoubtedly save lives.
Abortion is not an easy topic to debate at all. However, I feel it is not big enough to get in the way of passing this monumental healthcare bill. There have been way too many obstacles already and one more is not needed. The pro-life supporters need to put their pride and religous beliefs on hold for a couple more months. This bill needs to be passed. Millions of people may miss out on the opportunity of a lifetime because of old values that some people will never let go off.
Here's the link to the NPR article:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124265069
1 comment:
I think that abortion should have been an important part of the health care legislation.Many women have had to go through the exprience and had to deal with the hassle of insurance coverage. Women who miscarry have to sometime get a D&C which is the exact same procedure as many abortions. If you leave that out of the health care plan it creates a gap for the care of women who miscarry. abortion is a medically safe and frequently practiced procedure that is still very taboo in this country. Unwanted pregnancy makes women face one of the most diffcult choices in her life. The fact that this argument is still so rampant among politicans really does a disservice to women and goes to the core issue of health care being sexist. Men recieve better care than women a lot of the times. Men can recieve through private insurance funds for penial englargment surgery because that is considred a medical condition. Women are lucky if the get more than one mamogram every 2 years. Sexist attitudes in private and the now public health care system are sad.
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