Dear Male Democrats, Abortion Is Legal
29 September 2009 8:36 am by Taylor Marsh
A New York Times story today focuses on how the “abortion fight complicates debate on health care.” It shouldn’t. Abortion is settled law, a civil rights issue for women that has long been decided. The Hyde Amendment doesn’t deserve worship, it should be rewritten to reflect reality. It’s an old argument, but if this was a discussion about what men could do with their bodies we wouldn’t be having the debate.
Male senators, led by Democrats, are leading the fight against allowing abortion access to middle income and poor women, because they have an aversion to allowing public funds to be used for women’s health issues like abortion, which could be used via the health care coverage now being debated. The head Blue Dog of them all, Barack Obama, is pandering to these men, allowing this argument to pick up steam.
After months of pushing the issue, Mr. Stupak said in an interview, Mr. Obama finally called him 10 days ago. “He said: ‘Look, try to get this thing worked out among the Democrats. We want you to work it out within the party,’ ” Mr. Stupak said, adding that Mr. Obama did not say whether he supported the segregated-money provision or a more sweeping restriction. “We got his attention, which we never had before.”
After the president called, Mr. Stupak said, Ms. Pelosi agreed to meet with Mr. Stupak on Tuesday to discuss his proposals for the first time, her office confirmed. Her spokesman, Nadeam Elshami, said in a statement, “As we have throughout the process, we are meeting with our members to listen to their concerns, consulting with the administration, and making progress.”
The Senate Finance Committee is expected to vote this week on a proposed amendment from Senator Orrin G. Hatch, Republican of Utah, to restrict the use of federal subsidies.
Somebody needs to tell all of these men that abortion is legal. That women won the civil right to control our bodies decades ago. Regardless of means. Of course, with that comes responsibility on all fronts, which women should respect and on which we should be held accountable.
Nobody likes to talk frankly about abortion. If the religious right and the foundational hierarchy of a vast array of churches hadn’t allowed contraception to become part of this debate, abortion would be talked about much less. But because the perfect is the enemy of the good, many organized religions even frown on focusing directly on prevention, which has to go well beyond abstinence, to include an agreement on all sides that contraception and prevention must be our first job.
Nothing has done more disservice to young people than the myopic notion that abstinence only is the answer.
We are a juvenile nation in this regard, led by mostly men who are so totally clueless on how to actually prevent abortion that they now are planning to offer health care reform that keeps public funds away from women without the means to help themselves.
The current crop of Democrats in Congress, led by Barack Obama, make me ashamed. These men seem set to push women’s civil rights back by their ignoring a simple fact. Abortion is legal. Worshiping at the altar of the Hyde Amendment, politicians act like this archaic offering should actually preclude what the Supreme Court ruled decades ago. It should be changed to mirror that reality, which must extend to allowing abortions to be funded through the new health care initiative crawling its way through Congress.
Abortion is legal. A poor woman should have as much access as a senator’s daughter. Or a president’s.
