Recent fights between anti-abortion groups could leave people with the impression that the new health overhaul law expands women's access to abortion. But abortion-rights groups vehemently disagree.
"There are extraordinary things in health care reform for women," says Judy Lichtman, a senior adviser to the National Partnership for Women and Families, which supports abortion rights. "But all, I have to admit, come at the expense of women's abortion rights, and that's very sad."
Timothy Jost, a law professor at Washington and Lee University in Virginia, agrees. "I think across the board this is a bill that is a pro-life bill and is going to lead to fewer rather than more abortions. And I think it's very unfortunate that people who oppose this bill for other reasons are attacking it as an abortion-funding bill, which it definitely is not." ...
Charmaine Yoest, president and CEO of anti-abortion group Americans United for Life, said her group wasted no time drawing up a model state law to that effect. They sent it out the day after Congress approved the health bill.
"It was a part of the legislation that states could opt out, and so we had a heads-up that this would be a window for us," she said. "So we moved right in to make sure that we could equip states with the tools that they need to have the most effective opt-out possible." So far at least three states -- Missouri, Tennessee and Louisiana -- are already moving legislation to ban abortion coverage in the exchanges. And that's even though the exchanges themselves don't have to be up and running until the year 2014.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126000118
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
