Comments on: The Stup** Amendment http://birthingjoy.net/blog/2009/11/the-stup-amendment/ In oranges and women courage is often mistaken for insanity - Iron Jawed Angels Fri, 30 Jul 2010 09:42:07 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: clyde http://birthingjoy.net/blog/2009/11/the-stup-amendment/#comment-909 clyde Wed, 25 Nov 2009 00:04:08 +0000 http://birthingjoy.net/blog/?p=58#comment-909 How about the argument that not paying for them disproportionally impacts poor women, creating a two-tier system in which women with means have access and women without means don't? What about the public health impact of women who can't afford a safe, legal abortion who then try to self-abort or go to some back-alley practitioner and finds herself in a worse condition than before? Who is to say that an abortion is an 'elective' procedure? Abortions save lives every day. Circumcision is 'elective' but it is covered. No one is arguing that preventing unwanted pregnancy shouldn't be a priority. It should. And the same folks that are screaming in D.C. that abortions should not be publicly funded are clamoring for abstinence-only sex education that has been demonstrated over and over again not to work. Abortion IS part of a woman's health care. Any reproductive health care for women that is to be considered 'comprehensive' MUST include abortion services. To exclude it is to deny women access to one of their fundamental human rights: the right to their autonomy, their body and to determine the course of their own lives. It is fundamentally sexist to single out a single health care procedure that only women will ever need. We don't let people who are opposed to blood transfusions or childhood immunizations decide public policy on these medical treatments (and one could argue that immunizations are also 'elective'). Why should people who are opposed to abortion have the right to determine public policy on abortion? Thanks for your comment! How about the argument that not paying for them disproportionally impacts poor women, creating a two-tier system in which women with means have access and women without means don’t? What about the public health impact of women who can’t afford a safe, legal abortion who then try to self-abort or go to some back-alley practitioner and finds herself in a worse condition than before?

Who is to say that an abortion is an ‘elective’ procedure? Abortions save lives every day. Circumcision is ‘elective’ but it is covered. No one is arguing that preventing unwanted pregnancy shouldn’t be a priority. It should. And the same folks that are screaming in D.C. that abortions should not be publicly funded are clamoring for abstinence-only sex education that has been demonstrated over and over again not to work.

Abortion IS part of a woman’s health care. Any reproductive health care for women that is to be considered ‘comprehensive’ MUST include abortion services. To exclude it is to deny women access to one of their fundamental human rights: the right to their autonomy, their body and to determine the course of their own lives. It is fundamentally sexist to single out a single health care procedure that only women will ever need.

We don’t let people who are opposed to blood transfusions or childhood immunizations decide public policy on these medical treatments (and one could argue that immunizations are also ‘elective’). Why should people who are opposed to abortion have the right to determine public policy on abortion?

Thanks for your comment!

]]> By: I Respectfully Disagree http://birthingjoy.net/blog/2009/11/the-stup-amendment/#comment-908 I Respectfully Disagree Tue, 24 Nov 2009 22:10:03 +0000 http://birthingjoy.net/blog/?p=58#comment-908 I will start out with I have always been pro choice but find myself more in the middle of the abortion argument lately. However, my position about publicly funded abortions is not tied to legality of abortion. My question, I guess, really is why should an abortion be considered a right provided by the government and part of health care? At the end of the day it is an elective procedure. Pregnancies are avoidable (at an astoundingly high rate) so to get pregnant is almost always a result of not taking the proper precautions. Then someone doesn't like the consequences of their action and wants the tax payers to help "fix" it? The argument that not paying for them doesn't stop them from happening doesn't seem like a valid argument. That's the same thing as saying "we don't provide marijuana to people but they just keep smoking it so we might as well just make it legal". Just because people will make poor decisions (in this case to get pregnant) doesn't mean we should justify them (by helping them "fix" it). I'm all for putting people (both sexes) in charge of their reproductive rights. Let's teach them about the consequences of their actions. Let's teach them how to avoid the consequences they don't want. But I just don't understand why abortion should be considered a right provided by our government. I will start out with I have always been pro choice but find myself more in the middle of the abortion argument lately. However, my position about publicly funded abortions is not tied to legality of abortion.

My question, I guess, really is why should an abortion be considered a right provided by the government and part of health care? At the end of the day it is an elective procedure. Pregnancies are avoidable (at an astoundingly high rate) so to get pregnant is almost always a result of not taking the proper precautions. Then someone doesn’t like the consequences of their action and wants the tax payers to help “fix” it?

The argument that not paying for them doesn’t stop them from happening doesn’t seem like a valid argument. That’s the same thing as saying “we don’t provide marijuana to people but they just keep smoking it so we might as well just make it legal”. Just because people will make poor decisions (in this case to get pregnant) doesn’t mean we should justify them (by helping them “fix” it).

I’m all for putting people (both sexes) in charge of their reproductive rights. Let’s teach them about the consequences of their actions. Let’s teach them how to avoid the consequences they don’t want. But I just don’t understand why abortion should be considered a right provided by our government.

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