Abortion

Choice in the military: Crocodiles or piranhas

Kate Harding — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 10:16:00 PST

"The ban on abortions at military hospitals hasn't been a prominent aspect of abortion rights advocacy in recent years, as reproductive rights activists have scrambled to avoid losing further ground to anti-abortion measures like the House health care bill's Stupak amendment or the corresponding Nelson amendment defeated last week in the Senate," writes Kathryn Joyce at Religion Dispatches. "But there are reasons why it should be." Among those is the story of a former Marine she calls Amy, who found herself pregnant in Falllujah two years ago. Except in cases of rape, incest or a threat to the woman's life, military hospitals cannot provide abortions, due to restrictions on federal funding of them -- and meanwhile, a soldier risks substantial personal and professional repercussions if she admits to being pregnant at all. She can be punished for having sex in a war zone (even if, as Amy later recognized was the case, she was raped), denied promotions, derided by commanding officers and humiliated by her peers. As National Abortion Federation president Vicki Saporta told Joyce, "If you're a woman in the military, you're going to have to obtain a leave to get the care you need. If you're honest about why you need that care, you put your military career in jeopardy. If you're not honest, then you put your military career in jeopardy." Or, as Amy put it, it's "like being given a choice between swimming in a pond full of crocodiles or piranhas."

Senate votes to table Nelson abortion amendment

Alex Koppelman — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 14:33:00 PST

The Senate has just voted to table an amendment to its healthcare reform legislation that would have tightened the bill's restrictions on coverage for abortion, bringing it in line with the language contained in the House's Stupak amendment.

Stupak's spitting image

Tracy Clark-Flory — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 14:10:00 PST

Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson introduced his anti-abortion bill Monday afternoon and, as promised, it is a carbon copy of the House's Stupak-Pitts amendment. It restricts abortion coverage in the public option as well as by insurance companies that receive any federal subsidies -- even if government funding is carefully segregated. Predictably, this clone amendment is garnering an identical response from pro-choice groups.

Trig, the anti-abortion straw baby

Tracy Clark-Flory — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 14:20:00 PST

Sarah Palin is the new anti-abortion icon, Ben Smith argues today in Politico: "Her decision to carry to term her Down syndrome child established a special relationship with anti-abortion activists, and now Palin has transformed herself from a politician who was anti-abortion into the leading figure of the anti-abortion movement." The truth, though, is that she has been upstaged by the movement's real star: Trig.

Nelson will filibuster bill without Stupak abortion language

Alex Koppelman — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 10:35:00 PST

Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., has been a very tough nut to crack when it comes to healthcare reform, even though it's his own party's leaders trying to do the cracking. Nelson, who represents a key swing vote that Democrats must have in order to defeat a Republican filibuster, has been continuously reticent about supporting the legislation, especially because it currently contains a public option proposal.

Don't just swallow it

Linda Hirshman — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 17:02:00 PST

Two weeks ago gay activist John Aravosis asked the readers of his popular AmericaBlog to stop giving to the Democratic Party:

Nelson planning Stupak-like amendment for Senate bill

Alex Koppelman — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 16:45:00 PST

Progressives have been angry over the inclusion of the Stupak-Pitts amendment, which imposes strict restrictions on abortion coverage, in the House's healthcare reform bill. But they were at least cheered to see that the Senate's language was much more moderate. Now, though, there's more bad news for supporters of abortion rights: One senator, a pivotal player in the whole debate, wants to add something like the Stupak amendment to the Senate's legislation.

Fess up, faux women's clinics!

Tracy Clark-Flory — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 14:25:00 PST

Under legislation approved Monday night by Baltimore's city council, crisis pregnancy centers that do not offer referrals for abortion or birth control would be required to post signs saying as much. It seems like such a reasonable plea for transparency! After all, these types of centers are infamous for engaging in religiously- and politically-motivated deception of pregnant women -- and yet, if the city's mayor signs the measure, it will be the very first law of its kind in the U.S.

The anti-abortion protest that wasn't

Kate Harding — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 12:01:00 PST

What if you threw a protest and nobody came? Operation Rescue founder Randall Terry did just that in Fort Wayne, Indiana, the first stop on a planned 13-city tour in which Terry intends to inform people that the senate healthcare reform bill "will essentially fund abortions." According to the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel, "A few reporters and photographers, Terry and two passersby were the whole rally. Terry's target, U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh and Bayh's entire staff inside the E. Ross Adair Federal Building, were no-shows." "

Welcome to abortion's middle ground

Tracy Clark-Flory — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:01:00 PST

Ah, compromise! There's nothing like an extreme assault on women's reproductive rights to make you truly appreciate moderation. On Wednesday night, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid introduced the proposed Senate healthcare bill, which trades the House's stringent Stupak-Pitts language in favor of a limited ban on federal funding of abortions. Essentially, the bill applies the restrictions found in the Hyde amendment to the healthcare bill. Stupak supporters may claim their amendment accomplishes the same thing -- but, as we've repeatedly written in Broadsheet, it goes much farther.

No women will get abortion coverage

Tracy Clark-Flory — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:55:00 PST

I started the week biting my nails thinking about how the logic behind Stupak-Pitts could be more broadly applied. A Politico report about how Americans get $250 billion a year in tax breaks to buy employer-based plans, many of which offer abortion coverage, is to blame. I picked up the phone and called some of the amendment's supporting Congress members and anti-choice organizations to ask whether they might target such plans. Of course, my phone calls got me nowhere -- why would they reveal their long-term strategy to me? -- but, no matter. Now I realize my question was naive to begin with, because according to new analysis by George Washington University, it's possible the amendment itself could essentially bring about the same result.

Stupak says he'll kill health bill without his amendment

Alex Koppelman — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 07:25:00 PST

Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., isn't making many friends with one of his party's key constituencies. The amendment he drafted and got attached to the House's healthcare reform bill, which restricts abortion coverage, has become perhaps the most controversial aspect of the legislation on the left. And now he's taking a tough line on the possibility that the amendment could be changed or stripped altogether.

Stupak-Pitts is a bad joke

Tracy Clark-Flory — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 11:30:00 PST

Heard the new joke about healthcare reform? It's so funny you might forget to laugh -- and skip straight to crying. That's the aim of the stand-up routine delivered in the Center for Reproductive Rights' new ad against the Stupak-Pitts ban on abortion coverage. Check out the video or skip to my recap below:

FBI was warned about Scott Roeder

Tracy Clark-Flory — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 16:37:00 PST

Roughly a month before the shooting death of Dr. George Tiller, the FBI received an anonymous letter warning that suspected killer Scott Roeder "would do physical harm" to the abortion provider, the Associated Press reports. The letter didn't offer a time-line, specifics or incriminating details -- just that the anti-abortion activist was going to hurt the late doctor. Here's where things get messy: The tipster, now revealed to be Mark Archer of Tunkhannock, Pa., and his wife were fighting for custody of Roeder's 7-year-old daughter. That's because his wife got pregnant by Roeder before she married Archer.

The real meaning of Stupak

Kate Harding — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 14:15:00 PST

One good thing has come of the Stupak-Pitts debacle, in which a bunch of anti-choice Democrats decided to hold the healthcare reform bill hostage until it severely restricted women's access to abortion: A lot of smart people have been writing about how the Democratic party has utterly failed women, and not for the first (or hundredth) time. Here's some of the best analysis you might have missed this week.

RNC's insurance covers abortion

Tracy Clark-Flory — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:01:00 PST

Holy hypocrisy, GOP: The Republican National Committee's health insurance plan covers abortion. This news comes by way of Politico's Meredith Shiner and Jonathan Allen, who appropriately point out the obvious conflict here: "The party’s own platform calls [abortion] 'a fundamental assault on innocent human life.'" The RNC didn't opt out of abortion coverage, though, even though that is allowed by Cigna, its insurer. Worse yet, though, is the fact that 176 House Republicans voted for the Stupak amendment, which restricts federal funds from going toward insurance plans that cover abortion. God forbid the government help you to get an insurance plan just like the one enjoyed by the RNC.

What's happening with healthcare reform? Salon explains

Mike Madden and Alex Koppelman — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:12:00 PST

With the House having approved its version of a healthcare reform bill on Saturday, Democrats in Congress are now closer to passing major reform than they've been in decades. That doesn't mean they're truly close, though -- there are still a lot of issues to be ironed out, and a fair number of potential obstacles that could arise to derail the whole process.

Bishops shape health care bill

JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS, Associated Press — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 07:45:00 PST

Catholic bishops have emerged as a formidable force in the health care overhaul fight, using their clout with millions of Catholics and working behind the scenes in Congress to get strong abortion restrictions into the House bill.

The Democrats' new "Family" values

Jeff Sharlet — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:11:00 PST

American women will pay the price for the Democratic dithering that allowed Saturday's passage of the Stupak-Pitts amendment, a worm virus inserted into the House healthcare reform bill with surgical precision. But the Democratic Party will suffer collateral damage.

Face it: The Democratic Party is not for women

Kate Harding — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:21:00 PST

Since the healthcare reform bill passed the House with the Stupak-Pitts amendment intact on Saturday night, feminists have been up in arms about the latest assault on access to abortion, and so-called progressive men have been telling us to calm down and look at the big picture. In other words: same old, same old. In an e-mail, our own Rebecca Traister summed up the ongoing conflict between those who prioritize women's rights and those who see them as a bargaining chip to be traded away as necessary: