Reply #24: From Street Prophets: a pastor's post about religious bullies and health care.

[madfloridian]

Big kudos to Reverend Carlton Veazey for this outstanding post at Street Prophets.

Religious Bullies Throw Their Weight Around on Health Care Reform

Call it religious bullying. Call it political pressure. Whatever the term, the threats by the Catholic bishops, the anti-equality Family Research Council, and some evangelical leaders to kill health care reform legislation if it covers abortion services are unacceptable to those of us who seek inclusive, accessible, affordable and accountable coverage.

Add to this group the 19 Democrats (most recruited recently to run in Republican districts) who say they will not vote for health care reform "unless it explicitly excludes abortion funding" and the Democratic and Republican congressional leaders who are willing to dump abortion coverage to achieve "bipartisan" support for reform and you have a sense of the mentality of those who are against abortion coverage.

Considering the tiny fraction of health care that involves abortion, these threats verge on hysteria. They pose a clear danger to women’s health overall. We know that reproductive health is a key determinant of women’s overall health. The treatments and services that promote reproductive health throughout a woman’s life must be part of any national health plan – and that includes contraceptive care, maternity care, pre- and post-partum care, screenings for sexually transmitted infections and reproductive cancers and abortion care. Whether or not this mentality can produce the votes to kill reform, it is grabbing headlines and shaping the debate. Meanwhile, there is silence from progressive politicians who support legal abortion as a health care measure and from social justice leaders.

For women’s reproductive health care, a lot is at stake here. In 2002, the Guttmacher Institute found that 86.9 % of typical employment-based health plans routinely cover surgical abortion and 86.5% routinely cover medical abortion. If abortion services are excluded, millions of women will stand to lose coverage for services that they already have through their private insurance plans. The impact will be greatest on low-income women, who are four times as likely to have an unintended pregnancy and five times as likely to have an unintended birth as higher-income women. The huge gap in health status and access to healthcare services that reforms are meant to remedy will widen. Abortion will become even less available and accessible than it is now, with 86% of counties across the United States currently without a provider. As a country, we will all take a step back to the days when abortion was illegal.

Thank you, Reverend Veazey