Reproductive Rights Out of H.R. 3200

Ben Smith's headline "Abortion sidetracks health care debate" really pisses me off. Abortion is an important health care issue. An amendment to the America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009 eliminates abortion as required coverage. It was never clear if abortion would have been mandated in coverage. The amendment prohibits abortions being part of "required coverage." Where the legislative language gets tricky is no federal health care plan will not required or prohibited from abortion funding. Policy wise: this is a victory for conservatives. There are too many hurdles in the bill for money to go into abortion funding. The Obama administration is not going to get into a political fight over reproductive rights. Which is a shame.

The federal government is letting the states decide if health care dollars will fund abortions. Republicans in Red States keep federal dollars from funding abortion. Blue states get short changed.

The conscience clause will work it's way into an amendment. The Church amendment was the first legislation that allowed medical facilities to deny providing abortions based on religious views. This is a dangerous and unethical form of medicine. In Tampa, a rape victim was denied a second morning after pill because it was against a health care worker's religious beliefs. The woman reported being raped and was arrested by a Tampa Police Officer for late student loans. I don't have the stomach to listen to nonsense about the conscience clause.