A supporter of U.S. Rep. Christopher H. Smith staffing a Republican political table at a public festival told a woman asking about the 16-term congressman’s stance on reproductive rights to keep "an aspirin between your knees,’’ according to a video taken at the event.So that happened. AND there is video. Go check it out.
It’s your introductory course on all things Chris Smith and abortion.
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
The company you keep.
A friend just sent me this exciting little anecdote in which a supporter/campaign volunteer for Chris Smith says....well, why summarize when I can just quote the Wall Patch piece directly:
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Secret Abortion Clauses!
The ACA - aka health reform or "Obamacare" - is not a simple law. And unfortunately, due mainly to the fact that the final bill needed to please certain antiabortion factions of Congress (I'm looking at you, Blue Dog Democrats), the language regarding how abortion is covered is particularly complicated.
Here's what's not complicated: when someone is pregnant, one of these things MUST happen: the pregnancy is terminated; the pregnancy continues and results in a live birth or a stillbirth; or the pregnancy ends without medical intervention and then a medical intervention must occur to ensure the miscarriage is properly managed. All of these options are health care, and all of these options deserve the same level of coverage in health insurance.
Of course, antichoice zealots like Chris Smith don't see it that way. They don't understand that insurance coverage of abortion - even "elective" abortion - is pretty standard. We're talking about health insurance companies here - the only politics they care about is their bottom line. Most of them, without government interference, cover abortion care as a matter of course. Until now, that is - because the abortion "compromise" language in the ACA explicitly allowed states to take action to prohibit insurance companies from covering abortion care.
Let's be real: the parts of health reform related to abortion care were not our idea. No pro-choice group was thrilled with the Nelson language, which creates burdensome and unjust requirements for insurers to maintain the level of abortion coverage they already have. And certainly the expansion of Medicaid - great in many aspects - also includes the expansion of the Hyde amendment, so that sucks.
But we did not create this monster. The antichoice fanatics screaming about their taxpayer dollars paying for my abortion led to this complicated, cumbersome, and frankly strange treatment of abortion coverage in our post-ACA world. And now they want cry about "secret abortion clauses" and "bookkeeping tricks?" Spare me.
(Speaking of spares, you can support my team in the New jersey Abortion Access Fund bowl-a-thon here!)
Here's what's not complicated: when someone is pregnant, one of these things MUST happen: the pregnancy is terminated; the pregnancy continues and results in a live birth or a stillbirth; or the pregnancy ends without medical intervention and then a medical intervention must occur to ensure the miscarriage is properly managed. All of these options are health care, and all of these options deserve the same level of coverage in health insurance.
Of course, antichoice zealots like Chris Smith don't see it that way. They don't understand that insurance coverage of abortion - even "elective" abortion - is pretty standard. We're talking about health insurance companies here - the only politics they care about is their bottom line. Most of them, without government interference, cover abortion care as a matter of course. Until now, that is - because the abortion "compromise" language in the ACA explicitly allowed states to take action to prohibit insurance companies from covering abortion care.
Let's be real: the parts of health reform related to abortion care were not our idea. No pro-choice group was thrilled with the Nelson language, which creates burdensome and unjust requirements for insurers to maintain the level of abortion coverage they already have. And certainly the expansion of Medicaid - great in many aspects - also includes the expansion of the Hyde amendment, so that sucks.
But we did not create this monster. The antichoice fanatics screaming about their taxpayer dollars paying for my abortion led to this complicated, cumbersome, and frankly strange treatment of abortion coverage in our post-ACA world. And now they want cry about "secret abortion clauses" and "bookkeeping tricks?" Spare me.
(Speaking of spares, you can support my team in the New jersey Abortion Access Fund bowl-a-thon here!)
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