Healthcare Prof:

To guarantee passage with the Home wellness reform bill (HR 3962), Democrats “chose a course that risks the well-being of millions of girls for generations to come” via their approval of an antiabortion amendment by Reps. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) and Joe Pitts (R-Pa.), Kate Michelman, former president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, and Frances Kissling, former president of Catholics for Selection, write in a New York Times opinion piece. They explain that the amendment would “expand the existing ban on public financing for abortion” and “effectively prohibit ladies who participate within the proposed wellness system from obtaining private insurance that covers the full range of reproductive wellness options.” They continue, “Political calculation aside, the Residence Democrats reinforced the principle that a minority view on the morality of abortion can determine reproductive well being policy for American females.”

According to Michelman and Kissling, though some Democrats who “reluctantly” accepted the amendment “say they are going to fight another day for a woman’s right to choose,” it is impossible to “ignore the underlying shift that has taken place in recent years.” Michelman and Kissling continue, “The Democratic majority has abandoned its platform and subordinated women’s health to short-term political success,” adding, “In doing so, these so-called pals of women’s rights have arguably done more to undermine reproductive rights than some of abortion’s staunchest foes.” They write, “That Senate Democrats are poised to permit similar antiabortion language in their bill simply underscores the degree with the damage that has been done.”

Michelman and Kissling say that they and other girls “warned the Democratic Party in 2004 that it was a mistake to build a congressional majority by recruiting and electing candidates opposed towards the party’s commitment to legal abortion and to public financing for the procedure.” Democrats are now “told to stop talking about abortion as a moral and legal right and to concentrate instead on comforting language about reducing the number of abortions,” a message that President Obama has perpetuated, they add.

Michelman and Kissling continue, “When it comes to abortion, [Democrats] seem to think all positions are of equal value so lengthy as the party maintains a majority. But the party will eventually reap what it has sown.” According to the authors, “If Democrats don’t commit themselves to defeating the amendment, then they’ll face an uncompromising effort by Democratic females to defeat them, regardless of the cost towards the party’s precious majority.” They conclude, “In the meantime, the victims of their folly will be the millions of females who once could count on the Democratic Party to protect them from those who would sacrifice their rights for political gains” (Michelman/Kissling, New York Times, 11/12).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. It is possible to view the entire Every day Women’s Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for e-mail delivery here. The Every day Women’s Wellness Policy Report is a free service with the National Partnership for Ladies & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.

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