We've Been Stupak'd

While women won big with health care reform, we took a hard blow when it came to comprehensive reproductive health care, and we are doing so again. However, this time there are no trade-offs.

As soon as next month, transitory health-insurance pools for those with pre-existing conditions will become available. Yesterday the NARAL released a statement that said the new temporary health care plans for high-risk individuals will not include comprehensive reproductive health care. It seems the White House Administration has put a total ban on abortion coverage (with the exception of cases of rape, incest, or if the woman’s life is endangered) even though there is not a single thing in the federal law that restricts the use of federal or state money for abortion coverage within the Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plans (PCIPs).

This ban is in essence the same as the Stupak amendment which was defeated months ago. With the enforcement of this ban there is no way women will be able to purchase abortion coverage within the PCIP system even with their own private funds. Because these women fall in the high-risk category, they will not have options outside the PCIP system to find insurance coverage for abortion. That's why they are participating in the PCIP system to begin with, because they can't get coverage anywhere else! So in the end the government is completely denying these women of any possible coverage for abortion period!!

We did not work so hard to defeat the Stupak amendment, to so quickly and without any reason find a Stupak ban enforced now! As the Center for Reproductive Rights stated: "Healthcare reform was a tightly bargained piece of legislation - and with this, the White House is threatening to renege on a fundamental part of its bargain with American women and families who truly need coverage."

Join me in speaking out by telling President Obama that this abortion-coverage ban was not part of the agreement on health reform and that abortion coverage should not be excluded from the Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plans!