Southern States Move to Ban Abortion Funded by Federal Dollars

In my last post, I write about a topic I am deeply passionate about: a woman's choice to have an abortion. Our new health care reform allows this choice to be restricted and states have begun to take such limiting actions.

Obama signed an executive order when the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. health care reform) passed that stated: “it is necessary to establish an adequate enforcement mechanism to ensure that Federal funds are not used for abortion services (except in cases of rape or incest, or when the life of the woman would be endangered), consistent with a longstanding Federal statutory restriction that is commonly known as the Hyde Amendment . . . The purpose of this order is to establish a comprehensive, government-wide set of policies and procedures to achieve this goal and to make certain that all relevant actors . . . are aware of their responsibilities, new and old.” (I added the bold for effect) This signing statement allows for states to ban plans in their future health insurance exchange that allow elective abortion in their insurance exchange. This statement also implies elective abortions are immoral.

In my first blog post, I addressed the issue of abortion in the House and Senate versions of the health care bill. In a later post, published on the day Obama signed the bill into law, I noted how health care reform does not sufficiently protect a woman's reproductive rights.
Now, the actions various pro-choice and feminist organizations feared are occurring in various Southern states' governments. Missouri, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Mississippi, and Louisiana are the states in question.

Missouri's Senate passed a bill that bans the state's future insurance exchange from covering elective abortions. The bill has now moved to the House for debate.

Tennessee's Senate and House passed a bill that does the same thing. According to the Feminist Majority Foundation, "If Governor Philip Bredesen (D) approves the bill, Tennessee will become the first state to legislate against the inclusion of abortion coverage in the state insurance changes created by the new health care package, reported CBS."

Oklahoma's House and Senate have passed five new bills concerning abortion. One of these bills bans any state health insurance provider from including plans with abortion coverage. This bill awaits Governor Brad Henry's signature. He vetoed two of the five bills.

Mississippi's legislature is attempting to pass legislation that would ban abortion coverage in its insurance exchange. It passed in the House.

Louisiana's legislature is doing the same; its proposed bill passed in the House and would ban abortion coverage in its insurance exchange and would ban elective abortions under private insurance plans. "The bill does not include exceptions for rape or incest, but does include an exception if a woman's life is endangered," according to the Associated Press and Feminist Majority Foundation. This is worrisome because Obama's signing statement DOES allow for federally funded abortion in the case of rape, incest, or danger to the mother's life.

Some of these bills include other abortion-limiting provisions, such as a mandatory live ultrasound that must be performed before an abortion and the pregnant woman must be able to hear the fetus' heat beat.

Abortion is a hotly contested issue; Americans disagree if elective abortion should even be legal at all. Fake clinics still abound across the country, giving women misinformation in an attempt to dissuade them from having an abortion. Health care reform, in my opinion, should not have allowed the option of severely limited abortion with a mere signing statement. If Louisiana's legislation becomes law, then women will have to travel out of state for an elective abortion and pay for it themselves. Can a state legislature really decide what is best for ALL women?

Health care reform's implementation seems to have a lot of hurdles ahead; this is only one of them. In the coming years we will see what states limit or attempt to limit a woman's right to choose to have an abortion. These states are the first battlegrounds.

Sources:
Missouri State Senate Passes Expanded Abortion Bill
Tennessee Legislators Approve Ban on State-Backed Insurance Abortion Coverage
Bill to prohibit tax dollars for abortion services
Oklahoma Senate Passes Five New Anti-Choice Bills
Oklahoma lawmakers approve several abortion bills
Senate Approves Abortion Bills
Mississippi, Louisiana, Moving to Ban State-Backed Insurance Abortion Coverage
Bill would ban insurance on all elective abortions

Reproductive Rights, further information:
10 Worst Abortion Myths--and How to Refute Them
Students Fight CPC on Public Campus
What the Health Care Bill Means for Women
Anti-Abortion Extremists go to "Hell"
Criminalized Abortion: Coming to a State Near You

Blog by a pro-lifer: Jill Stanek, with her fingers on the pro-life pulse
(check out her 9/18/09 post about late-term a.k.a. "partial birth abortions")

Photos courtesy of: NY Daily News and Black Christian News

$$ and Governmental Power in Health Care: Dispelling some misconceptions

This clip from The Daily Show helps answer common questions about how health reform will work and if it will work:
Health Care Dollars and Cents and Backlash, too: The Daily Show: Representative John Dingell

Health care reform opinions to make you think:
Governmental Power and Health Care: The Colbert Report: George Will

Health Care Dollars and Cents

Currently, it seems like health care reform backlash is at a lull. So, in this post I am going to focus on questions and confusion surrounding health care costs. Now that health care reform has passed, for a liberal like me it is easy to believe that Obama will implement the reform and life will go on, with BETTER health care. However, we have yet to see how effective reform will be. Also, will this reform cut costs and satisfy the American public?

Some important concerns:
--Poverty and purchasing health care: how does an individual's earnings impact their decision to purchase coverage?
--Will premiums be determined by assets or income?
--Will premiums be lower due to the new law? Will insurance exchanges help you save money?
--If you have health care, will reform increase your premiums? How does reform affect your insurance?
--When do you have to buy insurance?
--How does reform help the uninsured, healthy, and young? Can young adults return to their caretakers' insurance plan? What about college students?
--What costs do domestic partners vs. married couples have to pay?

I hope readers find these links helpful. I think it's interesting to note what websites have information about health care reform post-bill signing, like The New York Times.

Other Dollars and Cents Health Care Resources:
Prescriptions: Making Sense of the Health Care Law
Benefit for Uninsured May Still Pose Hurdle
Could Health Care Overhaul Incentives Hurt Some?
The Squeeze on the Middle Class
Doctors Hear Many Questions About Health Law
The Effects of Health Reform on the Federal Budget
Families USA: Health Reform Central
The White House: Putting Americans in Control of their Health Care

Image #1 Courtesy of: Soda Head (look here for cartoon and image backlash against health care and Obama)

Politcal Cartoons and Health Care Reform Backlash

Just to piggyback off of Becca's post (since I can't see the images on my computer here they are for others having that issue):
The following political cartoon found on a blog: Pot to Kettle, Kettle to Pot

"Obama Health Care Plan in a Nutshell"

Health Care Reform Backlash: funny but good summary by the Daily Show

Continuing with our discussion about the response to health care reform, this video clip from Jon Stewart's Daily Show summarizes the various responses to health care reform well.

Health Care Slime Machine

Post Health Care Reform Passage: Has it helped Obama and the Democrats? What does "the" public think?

Health care reform has passed; now what? It now needs to become a reality and, currently, I think it's a little too soon to tell whether health care reform succeeded or not.

However, normal people (by that I mean "the public") still have an opinion that may affect their perception of the success of this program.

Poll results:
*CBS News:
-health care reform has "driven negative perceptions of Washington"
-55% of the public disapprove of Obama's management of the health care issue
-44% of the public approve of how Obama has handled his job as President
-majority of re-interviewed participants in a poll say that they do not understand how health care will affect them
-46% disapprove of health care reform, 42% approve after the bill passed

*Quinnipiac University:
-49% disapprove, 40% approve after the bill passed

*Gallup:
-50% Obama approval rating
- (with USA Today) Public has more negative impression of Democratic Congressional leaders

For More Polling Results and Information:
Poll Watch-Polls and Related Articles from the New York Times
Poll: Most Say Health Care Fight About Politics, not Policy
Polls Show Public Still Skeptical of Health Care Law
New Health Care Law Does Not Help Democrats in Poll
PollingReport.com: Health Policy

Image Courtesy of: CBS