Woman is the Nigger of the World
I think this is an appropriate enough video to introduce the latest in hope and change, received in a fundraising email from the otherwise odious sellout on reproductive rights, NARAL:
I have an urgent update about the new health-care law.
To our dismay, the Obama administration just announced it will exclude abortion coverage in the temporary health-insurance pools that will transition us into the new health-care system.
I am outraged that such a decision would come from a pro-choice president that we helped elect.
I have contacted the White House, but I need your voice, too. Tell President Obama that this new policy is unacceptable and ask him to change course immediately.
According to the Associated Press, the Obama administration is set to ban abortion services in a new, temporary program for individuals who fall into high-risk pools.1 This policy means that women who are part of these pools because they have significant health problems, such as diabetes or cancer, will not be able to access abortion care, even if their health is at further risk.
Believe it or not, the administration’s policy is similar to the ban proposed by anti-choice Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.). That’s right. For about three years, a Stupak-style ban will now apply to women in these new high-risk insurance pools.
Abortion is the most common surgical procedure women receive. At a time when the country is on the cusp of implementing nationwide health-insurance coverage, it is unacceptable to treat abortion care differently in the new high-risk pools.
Please urge President Obama to remove the abortion-coverage ban immediately.
Unless President Obama steps in, women with pre-existing conditions or other high-risk medical needs like diabetes will lose out on coverage for abortion care.
Help us fight back. Tell President Obama that the abortion-coverage ban was not part of the agreement on health reform.
I’ll keep you posted as this story unfolds. We will keep the pressure on the White House until the administration changes course.
Nancy Keenan
Nancy Keenan
President, NARAL Pro-Choice America
As usual, Susie says it best:
Picture this: You’ve recently been through exhausting rounds of chemotherapy and radiation, you’ve been puking your guts up and your doctor warns you this is a particularly malignant cancer.
Then you find out through some miracle (or bizarre irony) that you’re pregnant.
Your doctor warns you the chemo and radiation has put the fetus at risk. She also says the pregnancy could make it harder to effectively treat the cancer. You have a difficult decision ahead of you.
Hah hah, only kidding! That decision’s already been made for you!
What’s really infuriating is the attitude the administration seems to be taking. Obama’s apologists will remind you over and over again that the most important political goal is to prevent the Republicans from getting back in power, and that is certainly true so far as it goes. but it puts the administration in a position in which it can carry out those same policies (as we are seeing here, with abortion), because they know voters have nowhere else to turn.
It is like paying off the mobster who only smashes your house to pieces and breaks your thumbs, because the other option is the guy who’s also going to rape and murder your children. That’s how I see this announcement on abortion: “What’re you gonna do about it lady, vote Republican? Cus not only will they prohibit you from getting an abortion too, they’ll make you keep the baby even if you’re raped.”
