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Sometimes you don't need to be psychic to see the future. Back in July, I wrote about why I couldn't support health care reform unless it included the full spectrum of reproductive rights, including abortion. A few months after that, a representative from Michigan forced through an amendment that would effectively stop health insurance plans - including private ones that already cover the medical procedure - from paying for abortions thanks to "health care reform." It's called the Stupid Amendment. OK, it's really the Stupak amendment, but a friend of mine said that the first thing that comes to mind whenever she see's Rep. Stupak's name is stupid, and I heartily agree.
Anyway, the fight for reproductive rights moved to the Senate. Many excellent organizations banded together to form the Coalition to Pass Health Care Reform and Stop Stupak! organized a lobby day on Dec. 2. Over 1,000 advocates - including religious leaders - visited their elected officials to tell them that abortion is health care, and that banning insurance plans from abortion is not acceptable. We want health care reform, and we want reproductive rights.
The media has portrayed the Stupak Amendment as just an extension of the Hyde Amendment. (The Hyde Amendment prevents federal Medicaid funds from covering abortion services. What this actually does is cause poor women who want to terminate a pregnancy to choose between eating, paying rent, buying necessities for their children, and having an abortion. One result of this is that women who would have an early abortion wind up having second trimester abortions because it took them so long to raise funds for the procedure.) However, the Stupak Amendment goes far beyond Hyde. It would cause women who already have insurance that covers abortion to lose this care.
It's complicated, but here's how Stupak works to prevent almost all women from accessing health insurance plans that cover abortion services, according to Planned Parenthood:
The Stupak amendment prohibits any coverage of abortion in the public option and prohibits anyone receiving a federal subsidy from purchasing a health insurance plan that includes abortion. It also prohibits private health insurance plans from offering through the exchange a plan that includes abortion coverage to both subsidized and unsubsidized individuals.
Example: Currently, a self-employed graphic designer or writer, buying coverage from Kaiser Permanente in the individual market, likely has abortion coverage. Under the health reform plan amended by Stupak, she would purchase that same plan from Kaiser Permanente in the exchange, but it would not include abortion coverage because it would be barred. This ban would be in effect even if she were paying the full premium. Similarly, a woman working for a small graphic design firm, who currently has abortion coverage through her company’s plan, would lose it under reform if the company decides to seek more affordable coverage in the exchange.
The upshot: "women will lose abortion coverage that they currently have — in the current private insurance market, the majority of health insurance plans include abortion."
Dindy at Talks Many Moons has an amazing post about the effects of Stupak, how her tax dollars are spent, and people who oppose health reform and/or abortion. In part, she wrote:
It’s a note of irony that one of the reasons Americans give for opposing health care legislation is they don’t want the government to have control over their medical care. Yet, by allowing the Stupak amendment to pass, they will be giving control of their medical care over to United States Conference of Catholic Bishops who care more about fetuses than they do about living, breathing human beings. They don’t want the government making decisions about their medical care, but they are willing to let Bart Stupak make those decisions.
Help A Mother Out notes that, "At its essence, the Stupak amendment violates the underlying principle of health-care reform as articulated by President Obama: that no one will lose the benefits they currently have. Hello Ladies reminded people that it doesn't have to be this way - anyone who opposes this loss of precious medical coverage can contact his or her Senator and "ask them to pass healthcare reform that works for women as well as men."
So, to steal from PhDork at The Pursuit of Harpyness, don't be a stupak! Stand up for your rights and make your voice heard. It matters.
Suzanne also blogs at Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS) &
