Way back in September of last year, I commented that women, more than any other populist group, had brought the Presidential candidates. With the passage of the Stupak Amendment in the House, outlawing public support for abortion by the proposed health care, I think it's fair to say that the Obama administration prefers dancing with bishops to dancing with women.
I am surprised at how angry this makes me. Have the Democrats learned nothing from the past 50 years? Apparently not. If they will throw this many people under the bus, who won't be discarded if there is some interest group they are courting? I feel sick. I am old enough to remember the times before Roe v. Wade, and I have friends who grew up in countries where abortion is still illegal. I wonder how we will feel when our daughters die from backstreet abortions. I wonder how the unwanted children will feel.
It's class warfare, of course. The rich and the upper middle class will have access to safe abortion. The poor will not, and the lower-middle class will have to weigh the financial burden of unwanted children against potential bankruptcy of a medical abortion, or risk attempting to induce abortions without medical help.
The as-yet-unnamed third party to the left of the Democrats has just taken a giant step closer to reality.
[edited to correct copy errors]
I am surprised at how angry this makes me.
ReplyDeleteIndeed. And many so-called progressives are clueless, thinking the legislation was a great victory (see HA, Darryl Holman's Hominid Views). Lawmakers aren't the only ones who should receive this:
http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/send_a_coathanger/?rc=fb_share1&fixed=1