I am not having a good time under this bus
So the House has passed the healthcare reform bill--yay!
But they've thrown women's rights under the bus to do it--grrrrrrrrr....
As someone who was already nearly killed by pregnancy once, I take this pretty personally. Opponents of choice truly don't care if I, or women like me, live or die. Remember, anti-choice activists are increasingly backing abortion bans that don't even allow exemptions for cases where women's health is at risk--or even cases in which the woman, or girl, is a survivor of rape or incest. And more and more anti-choicers are also opposed to birth control--you know, the measures that would (provided everything works the way it's supposed to) prevent unplanned pregnancies in the first place.
I could go on, and on, and on. But I'm so angry I've had trouble typing this much. So here's a snippet from a New York Times article:
“If enacted, this amendment will be the greatest restriction of a woman’s right to choose to pass in our careers,” said Representative Diana DeGette, Democrat of Colorado, one of the lawmakers who left Ms. Pelosi’s office mad.
Representative Rosa DeLauro, Democrat of Connecticut, said the bill’s original language barring the use of federal dollars to pay for abortions should have been sufficient for the opponents. “Abortion is a matter of conscience on both sides of the debate,” Ms. DeLauro said. “This amendment takes away that same freedom of conscience from America’s women. It prohibits them from access to an abortion even if they pay for it with their own money. It invades women’s personal decisions.”
But Ms. DeGette, Ms. DeLauro and other defenders of abortion rights said they would nonetheless vote in favor of the health care bill and fight for changes in the final version, to be negotiated with the Senate.
Of course I'm glad they plan to keep fighting. But I wish they didn't have to keep framing the issue as "abortion rights." Because what it comes down to is this:
Do I, as an American citizen, have the right to decide what happens to my body, or don't I? And if I don't, why does a fetus have full civil rights when I don't? Why don't I have a right to life (not to mention liberty and the pursuit of happiness)?
Oh yeah, it's because I have the biggest "pre-existing condition" of them all: I'm a woman.
But they've thrown women's rights under the bus to do it--grrrrrrrrr....
As someone who was already nearly killed by pregnancy once, I take this pretty personally. Opponents of choice truly don't care if I, or women like me, live or die. Remember, anti-choice activists are increasingly backing abortion bans that don't even allow exemptions for cases where women's health is at risk--or even cases in which the woman, or girl, is a survivor of rape or incest. And more and more anti-choicers are also opposed to birth control--you know, the measures that would (provided everything works the way it's supposed to) prevent unplanned pregnancies in the first place.
I could go on, and on, and on. But I'm so angry I've had trouble typing this much. So here's a snippet from a New York Times article:
“If enacted, this amendment will be the greatest restriction of a woman’s right to choose to pass in our careers,” said Representative Diana DeGette, Democrat of Colorado, one of the lawmakers who left Ms. Pelosi’s office mad.
Representative Rosa DeLauro, Democrat of Connecticut, said the bill’s original language barring the use of federal dollars to pay for abortions should have been sufficient for the opponents. “Abortion is a matter of conscience on both sides of the debate,” Ms. DeLauro said. “This amendment takes away that same freedom of conscience from America’s women. It prohibits them from access to an abortion even if they pay for it with their own money. It invades women’s personal decisions.”
But Ms. DeGette, Ms. DeLauro and other defenders of abortion rights said they would nonetheless vote in favor of the health care bill and fight for changes in the final version, to be negotiated with the Senate.
Of course I'm glad they plan to keep fighting. But I wish they didn't have to keep framing the issue as "abortion rights." Because what it comes down to is this:
Do I, as an American citizen, have the right to decide what happens to my body, or don't I? And if I don't, why does a fetus have full civil rights when I don't? Why don't I have a right to life (not to mention liberty and the pursuit of happiness)?
Oh yeah, it's because I have the biggest "pre-existing condition" of them all: I'm a woman.