Think Humanely

Obama and the Democratic Party have once again shown themselves to be incompetent legislators that are perfectly okay with being held hostage by the private insurance industry and religious assholes. Everyone knew that the health care “reform” bill that was going to the floor of the House was a watered down, unethical, and undeniably corrupt piece of legislation. It was as if the Democrat-crafted bill had been birthed out of the diseased canal of an insurance lobbyist. What wasn’t nearly as expected, however, was that the bill would be made significantly worse due to one amendment, an amendment named in part after a Democrat.

Adele Stan notes that the Stupak-Pitts Amendment would accomplish the following:

* Prohibit individuals who receive the affordability tax credits from purchasing a private insurance plan that covers abortion, despite the fact that a majority of health insurance plans currently cover abortion.
* Result in a de facto ban on private insurance companies providing abortion coverage in the health insurance exchange, since the vast majority of participants would receive affordability tax credits.
* Prohibit the public option from providing abortion care, despite the fact that it would be funded through private premium dollars.

[. . .]

The Hill reports that:

Liberals on the committee threatened to vote against the final healthcare bill if it included Stupak’s language, warning that it would be a return to the days of back-alley abortions.

“I forsee a return to the dark ages,” Alcee Hastings, D-Fla., told The Hill. “I’m 73, I’ve seen these dark things, they use these coat hangers and die.”

“I used to think that life was black or white, but the older I get the most gray it becomes,” liberal Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., told the panelists of the House Rules committee as they debated whether to allow the amendment. “I find this amendment very, very uncomfortable.”

I know that this is Change I Can Believe In™! After all, there’s no way such a discriminatory, misogynistic, theocratic amendment would ever have been passed when those GOP assholes were in control of the Executive and Legislative branches. Wait…what?

Adele Stan http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/143811/anti-woman_amendment_to_health_care_passes_house/