Roundup: National Day of Action for Women’s Healthcare Reform, Anti-Abortion Dems Stall Reform?

Today is the National Day of Action for Women's Health Care; Health care reform is stalled - are anti-choice Democrats to blame?; more news from around the web.

I Am Not A Pre-Existing Condition

Today a broad coalition of progressive organizations are unifying to address the inequities in health insurance, through health care reform. The Women’s Day of Action includes a 12 hour vigil on Dupont Circle in Washington DC where women will read their personal health care stories. But there are rallies, events, house parties and other actions happening around the country. In a statement released today, The National Women’s Law Center’s Marcia Greenburger says,

"We want women to know that health care reform isn’t something that shoudl be debated only in Washington – because it affects women everywhere…That’s why we’re
taking our campaign outside the Beltway and bringing it to the women and
families whose lives are affected the most. Women need to make their voices
heard and speak out to demand health care reform that works for women.”

Lucinda Marshall of the Feminist Peace Network says the conversation needs to be about health as a human right,

The conversation we need to be having right now is not about how to ‘reform’ health care but about reclaiming our health as a human right.

Marshall writes passionately about the benefit, not just to women, but to society overall when we deal with the disrimination against women in health care,

When a woman decides to have a child, it should be the standard of society that she receive the best prenatal care possible so that she and her baby are healthy. When she goes to a hospital to deliver the baby, there should never be a question of whether she has enough money to do so. If a rape or domestic assault victim seeks medical care, she should never be penalized for doing so.  And if she or her children are sick, she should be able to stay home from work without fear of losing her job. And women should NEVER be charged more than men for access to health care as many are now. The benefits of such a re-statement of health and care as a right would be significant.

Some of the organizations involved in this national day of action include Momsrising.org, Americans for Democratic Action, Raising Women’s Voices, Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health, and PHI Health Care for Health Care Workers. 

And here’s more information on the day of action and the NWLC’s "I Am Not A Pre-Existing Condition" campaign. 

The Great American Abortion Access Stall in Health Care Reform

As Rachel Maddow repeatedly reminded us last night, President Obama has said over and over and over again that Americans would see final health care reform bills before Congress’ August recess. Of course that didn’t happen. And, as Maddow reported, yesterday, "Just moments after announcing that the Republican strategy with health care reform was to delay, Senator Reid announced – yes – further delays. He says he doesn’t even know if they will pass reform this year. ‘We won’t be bound by any time lines.’"

Maddow goes on to say, "That sound you hear in the distance is Republican cheering." 

And, of course, one of the biggest obstacles in the House, it seems, is anti-choice opposition to including legal abortion access in the bill. 

Anti-choice Democrat, Bart Stupak, is doing eveything he can to rally Democrats to fight even private insurance coverage of abortion in the House health bill. It certainly may not be what he’s saying outright but how else to interpret his leadership on this issue? Stupak’s struggle to ensure that those Americans who, under health care reform, maintain a combination of private insurance and public assistance, are barred from abortion access is a fight to roll back abortion rights, plain and simple.

Pro-choice legislators want to include an amendment called The Capps Amendment in the House health care bill. The amendment would ensure that, according to the Christian Science Monitor, "private healthcare plans included in a new
insurance marketplace…would cover abortion, as long as the funds were
segregated
. In other words, an individual’s private funds would be used
for abortion coverage, not federal monies."

The Hyde Amendment bars federal funds from being used to pay for abortions. It’s been in place for almost 40 years, since 1976. Private insurance companies, for the most part, cover abortion services because abortion is legal. So, what is the problem? 

Read more. 

More reproductive and sexual health news and information from around the web…

11/3

Abortion protesters
win court battle in Pittsburgh
Kansas
City Star

Officers hush
pro-life speech
OneNewsNow

No trial for
U of C students in
pro-life display
dispute
Calgary Herald

Abortion
Activist Accepts Six Months’ Probation for Assaulting
Pro-Life Advocate
LifeNews.com

House
Democrats’ Phony Amendment Claims to Remove Abortion From Health Care
LifeNews.com

Lakehead
University
Pro-Life Group’s Club
Status Revoked Again
Lifesite

Scott Roeder:
Pro-Life Activist,
Murderer, and Cartoon Plagiarist
Washington City Paper

Amendment to
Health-Care Bill Would Undercut
Pro-Life Proposal
CitizenLink

Pro-Life Advocates
Win Big on Election Night With Virginia, New Jersey Victories
LifeNews.com

Planned
Parenthood Assails Democratic Health Reform Critic
U.S. News & World Report

Anti-abortion
exhibit divides OSU
Stillwater
NewsPress

Pro-choice movement
loses its innocence
The Detroit News

House Health
Bill Stuck on Abortion Language
Air
America

Not all
religious sects are anti-abortion
UNM
Daily Lobo

Republicans
block vote on
birth control education
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Hearing set
in Planned Parenthood director case
Houston
Chronicle

New study
reveals women have difficulties identifying when they are most fertile
Business Wire

Paper Chase:
Third Circuit strikes down
abortion clinic
layered protest zones
Jurist

Church
rebukes nun for volunteering at
abortion clinic
Chicago Sun-Times

Americans
United for Life: Critical House Vote on Pro-
Abortion Health Care
Reuters

Democrats
Near Deal on
Abortion Coverage
New York Times

Police: Money
for
abortion was motive
in Barrios slaying
San Antonio
Express

Abortion language
complicates Democratic health efforts
Los
Angeles Times

Illinois Curb
on Minors’
Abortions Nears
New York Times

The Evolution
of Birth Control
ResourceShelf
(blog)

Debunking
Racist and Classist Myths about Teen Pregnancy
Feministing

Save the
Date: 10th Annual National
Adoption Day Set
Reuters


11/4

Medina
questions Hutchison’s credentials on abortion
Houston Chronicle

Abortion And
Mental Health Study Queried By Both Sides
Voxy

Revere
continues
contraception policy in
high school
Boston Globe

True respect
for life often overlooked in nursing school
The Catholic Spirit

Baltimore Sun
Column, Editorial Address Teen Pregnancy, Crisis Pregnancy Centers
Medical News Today