Stupak Shakur

YAY 400 posts!

YAY universal health care in the US - at least on paper for one of the two bodies of the US congressional system.

There is no doubt about TWO things:

1) Canada gave life to universal health care in a very different way (start in one province, radiate outwards), and

2) The compromise is worth the result.

Yes, the Stupak amendment would ensure that any abortion is not treated as an elective medial procedure, and yes, this sucks. The whole point of Roe (and several successors) was to guarantee privacy and certain access - which this amendment would specifically avoid (because 'po' people may have to resort to other means).

Yes, the bill has NO chance of getting past the US Senate in its current form.

BUT - it doesn't matter - this is an incremental victory- and it is important that people in America see this as a stepping stone for full health care.

So, does it water down abortion rights? Hellz no.

1) Even before the Stupak amendment, women had to pay for abortions. Why? they didn't have universal health care silly and medicare didn't cover it before.

2) There is NOTHING in the new bill that otherwise prevents a woman from getting an abortion - it just says she can't have government funding to do it.

That does not mean that the procedure will be ushered into back alleys. In fact, I would suspect the opposite is the case. While there will be guaranteed funds in other areas, the simple truth is that this bill will simply invest more capital into all kinds of areas (including other reproductive health issues) by encouraging more access to medical benefits.

My view on this issue has always been the same - to people on both sides of the fence. Criminalizing the procedure will create more problems, but having liberalized abortion laws is not the same as liberalized abortions. There are lots of things that are legal that people do not do.

Convincing them not to do it is a far more laudable method to achieve your goal. In the meantime, we can have a quasi-rational debate on the speech issues surrounding abortion like what you are/not allowed to do to convince someone to not have one.