Second Class Citizen Extraordinaire.
This was crossposted at Gaytheists. The article has been edited (somewhat) by someone who was slightly more sober than I when I wrote it. This has been a rough week for women’s healthcare and rights.
Originally this was a post about religious privilege and the health care debate. I had a relatively thoughtful discussion about how we were in danger (and still are) of having religious faith healing and non-evidence based medicine having mandated reimbursement from insurance companies with the current healthcare reform. I also explored, perhaps a bit prematurely, how religion has played a role in the healthcare debate regarding abortion, access to abortion, and restrictions on abortion. That article is no longer relevant, and will probably not see the light of day, although portions of it have been adapted below.
Why, you might ask? Well, because of a particular amendment to the healthcare bill that will prevent insurance customers that receive subsidies from the federal government or participate in the mandated exchange from receiving abortion coverage, even when paid for with private funds. Supplemental insurance or out of pocket costs will be required for elective abortion coverage.
I suppose you could argue that this is a little outside the purview of this blog, but as Quixote from Shakersville reminds us, “Rights are for all. When only some people have them, they’re just privileges. And privileges can be taken away.” The same sense of privilege that allows religious people to feel as if it is acceptable to vote away marriage rights to a minority allows them to feel okay about deciding what a person may or may not do with their body.
Honestly, the DNC wasn’t going to be getting any of my money because of the wholesale debacle they’ve made in supporting gay and minority rights, but this fucking seals the deal for me. Here’s a list of the Democrats that voted for the amendment, and attached at the bottom are the Democrats that voted FOR the amendment and AGAINST the healthcare bill. Anyone in those districts that want to run against your rep? If you’re in Michigan/Ohio, I’ll come campaign for you.
For those looking for non-drunken babble about health-care reform, you should probably check out Spare Candy, who has helpfully compiled a list of people much more rationally and sober than I, speaking about what the hell this means for women. I’m done with the fucking news for the night.
Edit: RHRealityCheck has a concise and pretty good breakdown of WHY the Stupak Amendment is a huge setback for abortion access. I presume theirs is also a non-drunken post.
Tags: abortion, democrats, Feminism, healthcare reform, Stupak
You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.