An Attack On Roe V. Wade

Being asked to write about Congressman Boehner’s support of an anti-abortion bill would be flattering if millions of other people had not received the same request. But this is not about me. This is about a woman’s reproductive rights. Mr. Boehner said that President Obama’s executive order forbidding the government from paying for abortions except in the case of rape, incest or when the pregnancy posed a serious health threat to the mother is not enough; nor, Mr. Boehner insists, is the Hyde bill, which is renewed annually. Mr. Boehner stated that the ban on the government’s funding of abortions must be made permanent. His statement is deceptive at best. Mr. Boehner is supporting the Chris Smith bill, which goes much farther than merely making the executive order or the Hyde bill permanent. The Smith bill would in fact eliminate subsidies to any insurance company that provides abortion coverage, and businesses that provide health insurance coverage that includes coverage for abortions could not claim deductions for providing health care coverage. Furthermore women could not claim deductions for the high cost of medical treatment if their insurer provides coverage for abortions. In this regard the Smith bill is similar to Mr. Stupak’s proposed amendment to the health care reform act. The intent of Mr. Stupak, Mr. Smith, and Mr. Boehner is quite clear; they want to prevent any private insurance company from providing coverage for abortions thereby denying many woman of access to the procedure by making the cost of it prohibitively expensive. Part of the Smith bill would also allow doctors and nurses to deny abortions even in the case of rape, incest or when the pregnancy poses a serious health threat to the woman.

I think one has to be careful about saying where this will lead, but there is absolutely no doubt that Mr. Boehner and the Republican Party are pandering to the extremists who like to call themselves pro-life. Need I remind you of the Republican candidates in the last election who said they apposed abortions even in the case of rape, incest or threats to a woman’s life. My point is that the anti-abortion crowd will settle for nothing less than overturning Roe v. Wade. Many of those extremists even want to overturn Griswald v. Connecticut, which ruled that states cannot prohibit the sale of contraceptives. I know that statement sounds like an exaggeration but consider that the anti-abortion crowd considers the morning after pill an abortion. Many even think that taking birth control pills is an abortion. But let us set aside for a moment the fact that feeding the fanatics will only encourage them to demand more restrictions. Although the threat of the Republican Party trying to meet those demands are very real, I can only conjecture as to how far the Republicans will go to do that.

There is no reason for conjecture in the case at hand. The bill Mr. Boehner supports is an assault on a woman’s reproductive rights in and of itself. Using the tax code and other financial threats will deny women of the reproductive rights guaranteed to them by Roe v. Wade. The fact that Mr. Boehner and other opponents of abortion are resorting to such a deceptive tactic is unconscionable. Mr. Boehner says that the majority of Americans favor such a bill. By saying a majority of Amercans, however, he means a majority of what he considers to be “real Americans,” meaning a majority of the right wing fanatics who are taking over his party. The real majority of Americans agree with the Roe v. Wade decision. It is now time for the real majority to make their voices heard.

Please join me in telling your congressperson to oppose this outrageous bill and all similar bills. I am putting it in terms Mr. Boehner uses and understands. I am asking my congressman to say “Hell No!” This will probably make Mr. Boehner cry, but everything does.