Consistent Life - formerly the Seamless Garment Network - promotes the Consistent Ethic of Life. Unlike some groups, they do not use this as a smoke screen to just promote the peace and justice issues while only paying lip service to being anti-abortion.
Consistent Life Action Alert
Crucial Amendment - Write Your Reps!
In March of 2003, George W. Bush gave a speech that had in it many admirable anti-war sentiments. These would have been gratifying had it not been glaringly obvious that he would see to it that actual war was starting the very next week. Some view this with cynicism, but there is still the point that the peace movement had made enough progress that pushing war could no longer be done forthrightly as it had many times in the past.As is common with issues of violence, a similar dynamic is appearing on aborton within the new health care reform proposals. President Obama in his speech last night did not come out with a statement that abortion should be covered like any ordinary health care, as Planned Parenthood advocates would have liked him to do. Instead, he assured us that no federal dollars would be going to abortion. So we do know that we've made enough progress that even a president who has strongly indicated agreement with Planned Parenthood's position in the past feels it necessary to regard the idea of taxpayer-funding of abortion as a controversy to avoid.Nevertheless, the wording is a game. All amendments to keep abortion from being paid for under the reforms were voted down in committee. Obama is referring to the Capps amendment to H.R. 3200, which is what abortion defenders have offered as a "compromise." It's a compromise in the sense that they cede ground on the idea that abortion should be treated no differently from ordinary medical care. Abortion would be covered under "private" dollars of premiums instead of "federal" dollars of taxes. For a neutral assessment on this, see:The issue of funding for abortion is absolutely crucial. When the Hyde Amendment that stopped Medicaid funding of abortion went into effect, states who stopped funding saw a dramatic downturn in abortions immediately. Experience shows that the availability of funding is a major factor in whether abortions happen. There has been for several years now a downward trend in abortions, and an even more dramatic downward trend in first-time abortions. This is good news about violence that didn't happen, and also good news about progress that is being made. The abortion business is in the middle of a state of collapsing. It could be resuscitated by an infusion of "private" dollars mandated by government policy.Consistent Life is naturally one of the groups quite interested in seeing health insurance reform happen in such a way as to remove one of the mechanisms whereby poverty causes death. We have member groups who are working hard on this point. Therefore, most of us when contacting our Senators and Representatives will be asking for a friendly amendment rather than attacking the current proposals as a whole. But we really do need to push for an amendment that has clear and unambiguous language that there be no abortion coverage.Now is an excellent time to contact your national elected representatives with this point. Now and in the next few weeks are the strategically crucial time to push this point, and then push it again.
Comments