Abortion Discussion In Health Reform Debate Disappoints Some Advocates; Others See Value In Compromise

Main Category: Abortion
Also Included In: Health Insurance / Medical Insurance;  Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP
Article Date: 23 Sep 2009 - 3:00 PDT

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Some abortion-rights groups find the tone and direction of the health care reform debate "frustrating, even disheartening," the AP/Google News reports. Some abortion-rights groups had hoped the reform debate would include discussion of expanding access to abortion services for low-income women and repealing the Hyde Amendment, which bans the use of federal Medicaid funds for abortion except in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the woman. However, the Obama administration and many congressional Democrats have focused on how health reform proposals would maintain the status quo on abortion funding restrictions.

Obama spokesperson Reid Cherlin said that the president "believes that Americans should be able to purchase health insurance coverage that reflects their values and needs." He added that people "seeking coverage for reproductive health services will be able to sign up for plans that are right for them in an insurance market that will have more affordable choices than we have today."

Stephanie Poggi of the National Network of Abortion Funds said she is "profoundly disappointed," adding, "We felt health care reform is supposed to be about expanding care, not expanding inequality." Terry O'Neill, the recently elected president of the National Organization for Women, said Democrats have been too willing to compromise on the issue. She said, "They're just wrong if they think compromise on abortion will bring more Republicans on board. The voices insisting upon exclusion of abortion services will not vote for meaningful reform anyway."

Advocates Push Broader Agenda

Some abortion-rights supporters maintain that compromising on abortion coverage under health reform is necessary to advance a broader women's-health agenda. Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) is clear that her "long-term goal" is to repeal the Hyde Amendment but acknowledges that "practically speaking, we don't have the votes to do that right now." DeGette said the focus of the debate right now is ensuring that women who currently have coverage for abortion services under their private plans do not lose that coverage.

Several abortion-rights advocacy groups are taking a similar approach to ensure that their broader agendas are passed, the AP/Google News reports. For example, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America is working to ensure that health reform legislation will enable more low-income women to obtain other types of reproductive health services, such as contraception, pregnancy and sexually transmitted infection testing, and screenings for breast and cervical cancer. Laurie Rubiner, PPFA's vice president for public policy, said, "We have to make some pragmatic choices about what we think is best overall to make sure these women have the best access to care."

NARAL Pro-Choice America policy director Donna Crane is taking a similar stance, saying that both sides of the abortion debate should be able to support comprehensive health reform that includes better access to contraception and more affordable prenatal and postnatal care for low-income women, which Crane said could reduce the need for abortion. She said that it is "not suitable or helpful to fight the abortion question in health care reform," adding, "We're becoming increasingly perplexed and alarmed by the other side, which seems willing to take any legislative hostage to advance its agenda."

However, Poggi said that what the abortion-rights movement "is being offered is not enough" in exchange for what it is giving up. "In the day-to-day world outside Congress, access to abortion is not a bargaining chip or a political football," she said, adding, "It's about whether women have the chance to live healthy lives" (Crary, AP/Google News, 9/21).

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