WASHINGTON — The House on Saturday passed, by a 220-215 vote, historic health care overhaul legislation that would require virtually all Americans to obtain health insurance and create a government-run health insurance plan to help them do so.
If passed by the Senate, the bill would bring about the most sweeping changes in the American health care system since Medicare was created 44 years ago.
The debate over health care reform has hit a predictable bump in the road: abortion. Opponents of abortion rights want to ban abortion coverage from any health insurance plan where customers receive federal subsidies — going against the trend in the private market and effectively preventing millions of American women from choosing to have access to a legal medical procedure. Congressional leaders need to steer clear. The best solution is to embrace an option that gives women access to abortion coverage but does not spend federal dollars to do it.
When the House narrowly passed the health care reform bill on Saturday night, it came with a steep price for women’s reproductive rights. Under pressure from anti-abortion Democrats and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, lawmakers added language that would prevent millions of Americans from buying insurance that covers abortions — even if they use their own money.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 marked the TIME TO DELIVER: Real Reform Includes Women's Health Day of Action! Planned Parenthood supporters across the state of Florida are coming together to encourage Congress to support health care reform. As part of a nationwide Day of Action, thousands of supporters have organized over a thousand events across the country to ensure women’s health is a priority in health care reform.
Local health centers are where many people turn for trusted healthcare. Community health centers, like Planned Parenthood, often serve as an entry point for essential healthcare needs.
by Cecile Richards,President of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America Posted August 18, 2009, 3:54pm on Huffington Post
So yesterday an article by Dan Gilgoff appeared in the U.S. News World Report titled "Bishops Demand Universal Healthcare Without Abortion." Does anyone else see the irony in the U.S. bishops wanting to define universal health care as covering everything except for what they don't support? Under this theory, I suppose women are supposed to wait to see just exactly how the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops comes down on a variety of health care needs to understand what in fact will be considered universal. Since when does universal health care mean denying comprehensive reproductive health care supported by the majority of Americans?
