Columnists, Rep. Stupak Comment On Abortion Restrictions In House Health Reform Bill

Main Category: Abortion
Also Included In: Health Insurance / Medical Insurance;  Breast Cancer;  Women's Health / Gynecology
Article Date: 20 Nov 2009 - 4:00 PST

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Several newspapers recently published opinion pieces regarding an amendment sponsored by Reps. Bart Stupak's (D-Mich.) and Joe Pitts (R-Pa.) to the House health care reform bill (HR 3962) that would prohibit abortion coverage in private and public health plans that receive federal subsidies. Summaries appear below.

~ Joan Vennochi, Boston Globe: The debate over health reform has proven that "women are the first to be sacrificed in the name of political compromise," columnist Vennochi writes. Not only has the Stupak amendment "empowered the antiabortion movement," but new guidelines on breast cancer screening could "help health insurance companies position themselves" to cover fewer mammograms, creating a "two-tier health care system" of women who can afford screenings and those who cannot, Vennochi claims. She adds that "when you need to cut corners, women are at the head of the line" (Vennochi, Boston Globe, 11/19).

~ Lanny Davis, The Hill: Despite the bitter debate over the Stupak amendment, "there is an opportunity for compromise" by creating legislation that bans abortion coverage under the public option but allows it under state exchanges, columnist Davis writes. If the amendment's supporters are not amenable to that agreement, "they will prove that their agenda is not about preserving the Hyde [Amendment] status quo" but rather making it "more difficult for women to obtain an abortion under the new health care system" (Davis, The Hill, 11/18).

~ Lisa Miller, Newsweek: "Culture warriors are not the only arbiters of the great moral questions of the day, and abortion is hardly the only ethical component of the health care debate," columnist Miller writes, adding the "entire health care system (and the proposed reform) is rife with 'complex moral issues.'" She continues, "Our so-called moral outrage ... is preventing us from taking a clear-eyed look at the moral dimension not just of abortion but of health care as a whole." Miller concludes, "This week's abortion conversation is about politics. Let's not pretend it's about anything else" (Miller, Newsweek, 11/18).

~ Stupak, Politico: Stupak says he only seeks to preserve the Hyde Amendment, adding that the Capps amendment, favored by some Democrats as a compromise with antiabortion lawmakers, "was struck without an antiabortion presence at the table" and was "hardly a good-faith compromise" (Stupak, Politico, 11/18).

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