The War Against Women
As Uncle Sam prepares to send more troops to Afghanistan to fight the Taliban and their religious extremist supporters, the two main political parties in America continued to wage a religious war against women in the United States. What has become known as the Stupak Amendment has added an additional threat to the passage of health care reform revealing a new level of stupidity in American political dialogue.
The issue in question is a proposal by Michigan representative Bart Stupak to restrict a woman's right to pay for an abortion under a health plan that receives federal subsidies. Endorsed by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the idea was included in the health care measure passed by the House of Representatives on November 7th. After months of battlefield engagements over such mundane affairs as universal coverage, fee for service, medicare reimbursement rates, pre-existing conditions and medical loss ratios, the fate of reform in the United States may come down to a matter of religious dogma.
To see church authorities join forces with the insurance companies to prevent health care reform is perplexing to many who feel that with tens of thousands of people dying every year as a result of having no medical coverage the nation's religious leaders should recognize the implied moral imperative and take a more visible stance in support of universal coverage.
Witnesses to the rancorous debate that has choked health care reform over this past year will not find it surprising that many of the same forces that have railed against a so-called government takeover of health care seem to have little problem endorsing a government takeover of a woman's uterus. As we prepare to send more soldiers off to war in Afghanistan, lets recall that Afghan women under the Taliban were forbidden to work, to educate themselves, to leave the house without a male escort. The power to make decisions about matters critical to one's health and well-being is not a power granted to women in Afghanistan under Taliban rule nor, apparently, to women in the United States.
As Uncle Sam prepares to send more troops to Afghanistan to fight the Taliban and their religious extremist supporters, the two main political parties in America continued to wage a religious war against women in the United States. What has become known as the Stupak Amendment has added an additional threat to the passage of health care reform revealing a new level of stupidity in American political dialogue.
The issue in question is a proposal by Michigan representative Bart Stupak to restrict a woman's right to pay for an abortion under a health plan that receives federal subsidies. Endorsed by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the idea was included in the health care measure passed by the House of Representatives on November 7th. After months of battlefield engagements over such mundane affairs as universal coverage, fee for service, medicare reimbursement rates, pre-existing conditions and medical loss ratios, the fate of reform in the United States may come down to a matter of religious dogma.
To see church authorities join forces with the insurance companies to prevent health care reform is perplexing to many who feel that with tens of thousands of people dying every year as a result of having no medical coverage the nation's religious leaders should recognize the implied moral imperative and take a more visible stance in support of universal coverage.
Witnesses to the rancorous debate that has choked health care reform over this past year will not find it surprising that many of the same forces that have railed against a so-called government takeover of health care seem to have little problem endorsing a government takeover of a woman's uterus. As we prepare to send more soldiers off to war in Afghanistan, lets recall that Afghan women under the Taliban were forbidden to work, to educate themselves, to leave the house without a male escort. The power to make decisions about matters critical to one's health and well-being is not a power granted to women in Afghanistan under Taliban rule nor, apparently, to women in the United States.
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