Abortion Aborted from Health Care Bill

The struggling economy, health care reform, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have ranked as the top issues of concern for most Americans for months now. (What? You mean Obama hasn't fixed all that stuff yet???) What most commentators and bloginators have failed to mention, however, are the ways in which all of these hot-button issues are inextricably linked. While nearly all Americans have been affected to some extent by the recession--even if it's just a vague awareness that one ought to pinch pennies "these days"--it is the working poor who suffer the most under the strain of the current economic crisis. I unashamedly count myself among the numbers of the working poor, and I can tell you I've been struggling all along. And, like millions of other broke-ass workers, I enthusiastically supported the candidacy of Barack Obama, naively shedding my hardened, cynical exterior, momentarily gripped by the shining light of hope. Hope that finally something would be done to, if not level the playing field, then at least get us nosebleed seats to the game. A living wage! Universal health care! An end to the war in Iraq! But...*sigh* Are these ideas even on the table anymore? Uhhh, not so much.

As an aside, let me just say that I am still a supporter of President Obama. With time, the glow has faded, however, and I am able to begin to look at things a bit more objectively. (Come on Katie, put on your political science cap. Put that fancy education to work. Obviously not literally, since you are over-educated and unemployable, but figuratively. Ok. Good.) I realize that the American political system is designed to make real change nearly impossible. A Democratic majority (as we have seen) does not make liberal reform a sure bet because single-member districts--and the resulting two-party system--destroy the possibility of intra-party cohesion and discipline, and make coalition building (that elusive "bipartisanship" we keep hearing about) a non-option. Progressive reforms like a living wage bill or universal health care thus should not be seen as planks of the Democratic party platform, but rather vague ideas which candidates donning the Democratic party label (or brand) may or may not choose to attach themselves to in order to gain election/re-election given the particular makeup of their district. Because of the lack of proportional representation in the United States and an absence of political parties proper, there are conservative Democrats, progressive Democrats, pro-life Democrats, pro-choice Democrats, pro-gun Democrats, anti-immigrant Democrats, and...pretty much just conservative Republicans. Maybe one or two "moderates," but they're a dying breed. And so, the Democratic party begins to look less like the party of the working class, and more like a grotesque, unnatural chimera--or, a fucked-up, smashed together hot mess of sometimes converging, but often conflicting ideas and individuals. They might "represent" me slightly more accurately than Republicans do, but they are hardly advocates for my cause.

Here's a case in point: Bart Stupak (D., MI) is my district's representative in Congress. Generally, I have been quite pleased with Mr. Stupak's work in Washington. Most notably, he voted against the war in Iraq, and more recently he voted against the massive Wall Street bailout. Flash forward to this weekend, and the continued wrangling over health care reform. The House Democrats had finally managed to cobble together something resembling a bill that had somewhat of a chance of passing when...Hold up! What's this? No one has played the abortion card yet? But wait! Riding in to the rescue is...a Democrat! My God, can it be true? It's Bart Stupak of that barren wasteland called Michigan, and he's got an amendment that will save babies by not allowing federal subsidies to the working and middle classes for purchasing private healthcare coverage to be used to buy plans that include abortion coverage. And...yes! The amendment passed. Phew. I was worried there for a second that abortion might not be brought into the issue.

Ok, maybe I would not protest so much if the bill constituted actual reform or had a snowball's chance in h-e-double hockey sticks of passing the Senate. Sadly, this is not just an example of the further curtailing of abortion rights in this country. It also represents another instance of the working poor being given the shaft. For most of American history, abortion was an illegal, yet accepted practice. Only in the mid-twentieth century--a period coinciding with the rise of oral contraception and women's liberation movements--did abortion become the fiercely contentious issue it is today. Even as American attitudes toward abortion became more conservative, abortion on demand was still readily available. Available to middle and upper class women, that is, who could afford to travel overseas for safe, legal abortions. Meanwhile, poor women either had to struggle under the burden of supporting an ever-expanding family or resort to unsafe, so-called "back alley" abortions. And so it seems not much has changed today. For poor women on Medicaid, access to abortion has been denied due to the ban on the use of federal funds to pay for the procedure; and now, with the possibility of the Stupak amendment to the health care reform bill becoming law (and undoubtedly some version of the amendment will be included in whichever bill finally passes), working and middle class women who must rely on subsidies to purchase private health insurance will be denied that right as well. Those who can afford to purchase coverage on their own, however, face no such restrictions.

The health care reform debate is just one instance which highlights the ways in which the considerations of the working poor are continuously disregarded in the American political arena. In the economic realm, we have seen greedy Wall Street firms bailed out and a failing General Motors propped up while thousands of homeowners have endured foreclosure and millions of workers have lost their jobs. The national security debacle/money pit known as the Iraq War rages on, wasting billions of dollars which could be better spent to shore up our faltering economy. (Wars don't do what they used to in times of economic crisis thanks to the increasing use of private contractors versus a nationalized war effort). And all I can do is hope that I'm wrong. Pray that my cynicism is unfounded. That the great Democratic party, the party of the New Deal and Civil Rights and the Great Society will find a way to make things right. To stand up for the little guy.

Please.