Abortion issue hard to avoid in healthcare debate
Like it or not, the healthcare debate has turned into a fracas over abortion rights.
U.S. House Democratic leaders had hoped to avoid just that in their push to expand healthcare coverage and reform the health insurance market.
But getting the votes to pass the historic legislation on Saturday boiled down to settling a dispute between pro-choice and pro-life forces over abortion.
Abortion foes won. The House passed an amendment restricting the availability of insurance policies that include elective abortion services even though many medical plans currently offer such coverage.
The debate over abortion highlights broader questions surrounding the government’s reach in healthcare. Once the government starts subsidizing insurance premiums, it will dictate what can and cannot be included in that coverage.
Democrat Congressman Louis Capps underscored that in arguing the amendment “will mean more women will have their reproductive health choices made by politicians and anti-choice zealots in Washington, DC, instead of by themselves and their doctors.”
With abortion-rights supporters vowing to strip the amendment out of the bill as it moves through the legislative process, the debate now shifts over to the Senate.
Dems see silver lining for healthcare in election results
Republican victories in the Virginia and New Jersey governors’ races may send shivers through Democratic circles, but what does it mean for President Barack Obama’s ambitious proposal to overhaul the $2.5 trillion healthcare system?
Not much, say Democrats. They are looking beyond the state issues that dominated the governor’s races and instead are focusing on two congressional races won by Democrats where national issues like healthcare reform were in play.
“From my perspective we won last night,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters when asked about Tuesday’s elections. “This was a victory for healthcare reform. From my standpoint we picked up votes last night — one in California and one in New York.”
The two victories–one in New York district 23 where Bill Owens became the first Democrat to win the seat in over a century and in California district 10 where John Garamendi kept the seat vacated by Ellen Tauscher in Democratic hands — brings the number of Democrats in the House to 258.
That gives Pelosi a little more breathing room as she tries to muster the votes needed to pass the sweeping health reform legislation. She could lose as many as 40 Democrats when the House votes, possibly later this week, and still pass the measure.
The two new members are expected to be sworn into office on Thursday.
apparently she does not have any idea what pulmonary hypertension is an how much a person on medicare has to pay for them, even at 50% reduction it could still up being 1000.00 fo dollars right now one drug is 4500.00 so once you are in catastrophic you can get the drug for 272.00 a month and with two drugs on social security and high cost of insurance premiums it is very difficult to get by on that. If the donut hole is done away with, we will not be able to afford to even buy the medications, some have a copay with medicare part D of 1633.00 a month, try paying for that on 1267 a month, this is a joke.
barbara
Pelosi says she was told about Harman wiretap
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi voiced confidence on Wednesday that Representative Jane Harman “would never do anything to hurt her country.”
Pelosi did so while disclosing that federal investigators advised the speaker a few years back it had overheard Harman, a fellow California Democrat, on wiretapped telephone calls.
”I have great confidence in Jane Harman,” Pelosi told reporters. “She’s a patriotic American. She would never do anything to hurt her country.”
Pelosi made the comments a day after Harman demanded that the Justice Department release tapes and transcripts of any wiretaps to buttress her claims that she did not intervene in an espionage case.
Harman has accused the government of an “abuse of power” and denied reports she had offered to try to help two pro-Israel lobbyists charged with espionage in exchange for assistance in getting Democrats to appoint her to lead the intelligence committee.
Harman did not get the post after Democrats won control of Congress in 2006. She left the panel shortly afterward.
Speaking at a roundtable discussion sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor newspaper, Pelosi was asked if she had been briefed by federal investigators at the time of the wiretap, reported to be in 2005 or 2006.
the fact that pelosi,was ok with water boarding and wire tapping seems to advocate the versatility of our democratic representative from SF. it indicates also that in spite of all the grandstanding, the threat of impeachment against cheney will not take place,because of the many addition directions that the inquiry could lead to.
@TC:
USA is definitely NOT the greatest country in the world by any standard except perhaps the one with the most unchecked greedy capitalism running everything, including the economy.
Human beings? Really?
I think it’s a matter of opinion. Personally I see a POTENTIAL human being, not something that absolutely WILL become a human being.
While I do not support inhumane or cruel practices to end life, think for millisecond WHY people get abortions.
Because: a) they don’t want a child or
b)they cannot afford to feed and clothe one or
c)both
These children are UNWANTED, they are likely to grow up with little love if their mother/father tried to get rid of them somehow.
Not having abortions makes people’s lives miserable, both the parent’s and the child’s.
And who are the people who most want abortions? Statistically, teenage mothers. You think they can afford one? Most do not even tell their parents! If we want to reduce the number of unwanted children, you need to give these girls an affordable option.
And if you STILL think abortion is a monstrosity, then do your best to get the government to promote sexual education and high schools to have free condoms available.