Blogs Comment On Obama Health Reform Proposal, Reproductive Rights In Kenya

Main Category: Women's Health / Gynecology
Also Included In: Health Insurance / Medical Insurance;  Abortion;  Sexual Health / STDs
Article Date: 24 Feb 2010 - 6:00 PDT

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The following summarizes selected women's health-related blog entries.

~ "Obama Presents A Health Care Plan But Abortion Issue Remains Unsettled," Sarah Kliff, Newsweek's "The Gaggle": President Obama's health reform proposal is "a huge step forward for the Democrats," but abortion coverage "promises to become a linchpin issue in the future negotiations," Kliff writes. The proposal preserves the Senate bill's (HR 3590) language on abortion coverage for insurance plans that receive federal subsidies, "which is less restrictive than the Stupak-Pitts amendment" included in the House bill (HR 3962), Kliff says. The Senate language came out of negotiations involving Sens. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) -- an abortion-rights opponent -- and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) -- both abortion-rights supporters. Neither abortion-rights supporters nor abortion-rights opponents liked the provision "and Nelson later admitted he planned to filibuster the language [and] essentially force [the] Senate to pick up the more restrictive Stupak language," Kliff reports. She adds, "In other words, if the abortion opponents had their way, this language would never get anywhere close to" consideration.  "Stupak-Pitts was the plan all along," she says. Kliff continues that abortion coverage is different from issues "like the public option, a provision that liberals would like but aren't willing to ditch the whole reform effort for." She writes, "From what we've seen so far, opponents of abortion rights seem ready to stand firm on this one, even if that means killing health care reform in the process." The issue now is how many House Democrats will oppose the White House proposal over the inclusion of the Senate abortion language, according to Kliff (Kliff, "The Gaggle," Newsweek, 2/22).

~ "Antiabortion Group Opposes Increased Oversight of Premiums," David Herszenhorn, New York Times' "Prescriptions": The National Right to Life Committee is criticizing President Obama's proposal to give the federal government new authority to regulate private health insurers and possibly block them from raising premiums, Herszenhorn writes. The proposal was included in the overhaul plan Obama released Monday. NRLC also opposes the Senate health reform bill's (HR 3590) language concerning abortion coverage for health plans that receive federal subsidies -- language that Obama's proposal retains. NRLC released a statement saying that proposal to regulate insurers "limits rights of Americans of all ages to use their own money to save their own lives." The group's director, Burke Balch, likened Obama's plan to limits on the cost of restaurant meals, asserting that such limits would hurt everyone because "restaurants would be unable to afford to offer meals at prices below the cost of their ingredients." Herszenhorn writes that "[e]xperts have noted, however, that insurance is not provided in the manner that other consumer goods are, including restaurant meals." Unlike diners viewing a restaurant menu, people purchasing health insurance plans "often have no way of knowing whether the premiums being charged are reasonable or how they would compare to other offerings by other insurers in other locations," Herszenhorn says, adding, "It can be extremely difficult to compare benefits packages, and premium prices can rise or fall depending on factors such as out-of-pocket costs, like copayments and deductibles." Furthermore, economists say a lack of competition in the insurance marketplace leaves consumers with few choices if they are unhappy with the cost of their coverage, according to Herszenhorn (Herszenhorn, "Prescriptions," New York Times, 2/22).

~ "Kenya Poised To Trample Women's Reproductive Rights," Gillian Kane, RH Reality Check: The Kenyan government is nearing the end of a two-decade effort to finalize its constitution, but the milestone "may be marred" by a provision that would define life as beginning at conception and outlaw abortion except to save the life of the woman, Kane writes. She notes that abortion already is illegal in Kenya except to save a woman's life and that the procedure is only legal in a hospital setting after two medical professionals certify that it is necessary. "Notwithstanding its illegality, abortions -- most of them unsafe still -- occur at high rates," Kane reports. Although the most recent draft of the constitution had "solid human rights protections for women," a parliamentary commission's review "resulted in the evisceration of many of the core democratic constitutional provisions," including Article 25, "which in its original language guaranteed that 'Every individual has the right to life,'" Kane says. Article 25 "is hardly revolutionary," as it "reflects the vales of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and is consistent with the majority of national constitutions in the world," she continues. "But conservative religious groups are not partial to the international legal precedence, and many lobbied Kenyan parliamentarians to amend Article 25," according to Kane. In addition to defining life at conception and outlawing abortion, the revision eliminated phrases "guaranteeing the right to health care, including reproductive health care, and that no one may be refused emergency medical treatment (say, for an unsafe abortion)," Kane writes. "The problem with protecting life at any stage before birth in a constitution is it may hinder women's access to abortion, even when her life is at risk," Kane says, adding that it "could also limit a woman's ability to use certain contraceptives, like IUDs or emergency contraceptives, as their mechanisms could be interpreted as interfering with life, as defined by religious groups, not medical science" (Kane, RH Reality Check, 2/23).

~ "Can Obama Health Bill Overcome Abortion Issue?" Alex Koppelman, Salon's "War Room": Although Obama's health reform proposal is a step forward in the attempt to pass health reform legislation, "there are still some outstanding issues that will have to be dealt with," Koppelman writes, adding that abortion coverage is "[o]ne of those issues." He writes, "That question went under the radar for some time last year, until it exploded" when the Stupak amendment was added to the House bill. "It's since gone quiet again, but there's a real chance for it to pop back up," Koppelman says, adding that Obama's decision to use the Senate language on the issue "could be a problem, considering that Stupak previously threatened to walk away from any bill that didn't contain his amendment and to take up to 20 other House members with him." House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) "simply can't afford that kind of mass defection -- even the loss of a few votes could be fatal to the bill's chances," according to Koppelman (Koppelman, "War Room," Salon, 2/22).

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