Government's Assault on Women: The Stupak Amendment Passes

On November 7, the House of Representatives passed the Affordable Health Care for America Act - included in this historical act was the passing of the Stupak Amendment - an amendment that many are crying is a direct slap in the face to all American women. In fact, millions of women are about to lose coverage they currently have and often need as the Stupak Amendment potentially goes farther than any other federal law to restrict women's access to abortion. So, even though abortion is a constitutional right, and one would think a basic part of reproductive health care, the Stupak Amendment will prohibit this coverage in the "Exchange" - the new reformed health insurance market.

In a nutshell, the Stupak Amendment (which, by the way, 64 Democrats voted for) effectively prevents public plans and private insurance companies, who choose to take part in the Exchange, from covering abortion care - even though 85% of private insurance companies currently cover abortion sevices. Additionally, not only will it ban direct government funding for abortion, it also bans public money from being spent on any plan that covers abortion (even if paid for entirely with private premiums).

Some Other Points With Respect to this Amendment:

• There is a narrow exception policy: Plans in the Exchange can only cover abortions in the case of rape or incest or "where a woman suffers from a physical disorder, physical injury, or physical illness that would, as certified by a physician, place the woman in danger of death." Keep in mind - the Stupak Amendment will NOT exclude other cases that typically constitute a woman's reason to seek an abortion - such as severe fetal abnormalities, depression that will lead to suicide or self-harm, or where the health (not the life) of the woman is threatened by the pregnancy.




• To justify the amendment as not banning abortion from the Exchange, Stupak and his cronies have added the "option" to allow women to purchase extra, stand-alone insurance (known as a rider) to cover abortion services. Perhaps its just me, but does it seem a bit illogical to ask women to plan for what is ultimately considered a completely unplanned event - hence the title, unplanned pregnancy?

Hopefully the Senate will have more respect for women than what the House has to offer as I am not so sure that America should stand for land of the free. If both federal funding and now private funders are banned from covering abortion, what choice will women have? It also begs the question, if women's reproductive needs are that unimportant, what will be next - bans on birth control coverage?

• Facts on Publicly Funded Contraceptive Services in the US

_{Photo Courtesy of Microsoft Online}