To ensure passage of the House health reform bill (HR 3962), Democrats "chose a course that risks the well-being of millions of women for generations to come" through their approval of an antiabortion amendment by Reps. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) and Joe Pitts (R-Pa.), Kate Michelman, former president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, and Frances Kissling, former president of Catholics for Choice, write in a New York Times opinion piece. They explain that the amendment would "expand the current ban on public financing for abortion" and "effectively prohibit women who participate in the proposed health system from obtaining private insurance that covers the full range of reproductive health options." They continue, "Political calculation aside, the House Democrats reinforced the principle that a minority view on the morality of abortion can determine reproductive health policy for American women."

According to Michelman and Kissling, although some Democrats who "reluctantly" accepted the amendment "say they will fight another day for a woman's right to choose," it is impossible to "ignore the underlying shift that has taken place in recent years." Michelman and Kissling continue, "The Democratic majority has abandoned its platform and subordinated women's health to short-term political success," adding, "In doing so, these so-called friends of women's rights have arguably done more to undermine reproductive rights than some of abortion's staunchest foes." They write, "That Senate Democrats are poised to allow similar antiabortion language in their bill simply underscores the degree of the damage that has been done."

Michelman and Kissling say that they and other women "warned the Democratic Party in 2004 that it was a mistake to build a congressional majority by recruiting and electing candidates opposed to the party's commitment to legal abortion and to public financing for the procedure." Democrats are now "told to stop talking about abortion as a moral and legal right and to focus instead on comforting language about reducing the number of abortions," a message that President Obama has perpetuated, they add.

Michelman and Kissling continue, "When it comes to abortion, [Democrats] seem to think all positions are of equal value so long as the party maintains a majority. But the party will eventually reap what it has sown." According to the authors, "If Democrats do not commit themselves to defeating the amendment, then they will face an uncompromising effort by Democratic women to defeat them, regardless of the cost to the party's precious majority." They conclude, "In the meantime, the victims of their folly will be the millions of women who once could count on the Democratic Party to protect them from those who would sacrifice their rights for political gains" (Michelman/Kissling, New York Times, 11/12).

Reprinted with kind permission from nationalpartnership. You can view the entire Daily Women's Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women's Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.

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