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Recently, a senator brought up an amendment that called for a prohibition in "the use of federal subsidies to pay for insurance that covers abortion, except in the cases of rape, incest or when the life of the mother is threatened. " The Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi agreed on this amendment. But many people are trying to keep that language out of the overall final healthcare bill. Democrats have been attempting to avoid the subject of abortion in the Senate for a long time. Republicans, on the other hand, are most likely going to bring up this amendment/subject as much as they can so that anti-abortion reforms will be passed.
As of now, there are millions of Catholic swing voters that voted Democratic in 2008. The democrats just might lose these voters in 2010 ff the debate expands and if the democrats are clearly arguing for abortion rights.
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I think it's going to be interesting to see how Congress deals with this. On one hand, the Democrats are pro-choice, and will not want to lost pro-choice supporters over this, but on the other hand, the whole health-care bill could get tanked if they push too hard against the amendment. I think that Pelosi knows that it's not worth risking the whole bill over this amendment, but other Democrats might not feel the same way.
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/11/who-would-be-most-impacted-by-the-stupak-amendment.html
It's a pretty long post (click on the second link), but gives some good information about abortion coverage right now, and how it would be under the Stupak amendment. As happens with many things, the poor would probably be the most impacted.
I think that the Democrats have been smart to avoid the topic of abortion, but they're going to have to address it at some point. Although I am pro-choice, I think that for the sake of comprise and passing the bill, abortion should be included. You kind of have to pick your battles, and unfortunately I think they'll have to lose this one.
Does this mean abortions at Planned Parenthood will cost money? Or do they already now? I'm not sure...does anyone know?
-Katie Jensen
Regardless of my personal opinion on abortion, I think it was and would be wise for the Democrats to avoid talks of abortion rights because of the 3 million Catholic swing voters. If the health care bill is going to be passed, the democrats will need all the seats possible in 2010 and it seems like the reform is of greater important than abortion issues right now.
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