Today, Planned Parenthood is sponsoring a National Day of Action to lobby the Senate for health care reform that ensures women’s access to reproductive health care. Busloads of women arrived in Washington, D.C. this morning and even more women are writing, tweeting and making calls.
As you know, the House of Representatives passed a healthcare bill last month which included an amendment banning abortion, the Stupak-Pitts Amendment. The ban goes well beyond the existing Hyde amendment, which prohibits federal funding for abortion. And it could prohibit a woman’s access to full reproductive healthcare including care for miscarriages and high-risk pregnancies.
This amendment violates the underlying principle of health care reform, as promised by President Obama — that reform will not cause any U.S. citizen to lose benefits they already have. It supposedly allows women to purchase a separate, single-service “abortion rider,” but these riders don’t exist.
Now Senators Hatch and Nelson are planning to introduce a similar amendment to the Senate healthcare bill. Click here to contact your Senators and ask them to pass healthcare reform that works for women as well as men.
(Photo used under Creative Commons license.)
Why??? Why??? This is NOT one of the items that needs reform!!! If some fundamentalist insurance bigwig is putting on the pressure, have him pay for all the babies, then, and the deaths and the illnesses. Let women rule their own bodies, thank you very much.
Yep…saw an article in the local paper this morning and was appalled! How is it we are progressing backwards? Thank you for sharing.