Why Did President Obama Exclude Payment for Abortion When He Spoke to Congress?

[David Zephyr]

Personally, I am still perplexed why the President felt obliged to give up on payment for abortions for women under any bill he would sign?

What happened? And why?

I'd like to hear from DU'ers, especially women on their thoughts. My sister, a mother and grandmother, thought it was chickenshit and unnecessary of the President to put that language in his speech to Congress? She rode around Houston with her Obama ski cap from September to the election. She's disappointed. Is she wrong to be so?

Why did he do it? Was it in some attempt to win over Republicans? Does anyone actually think that it won over any Republicans? If so, will you please provide the names of the Republicans that it won over.

It's an important issue. Why should poor women and girls be forced to pay for their own abortions? To me, that's really, really wrong.

Open discussion.

[spanone]

1. don't know. i think he believes there is goodness somewhere in their hearts. i think He's foolish.

last i looked, abortion was a legal medical procedure.

[WillieW]

7. But getting pregnant is your responsibility.

[spanone]

9. so is staying healthy.

[katandmoon]

15. That's right it is. So why do I have to pay for the results?

[cliffordu]

24. Same reason you pay uninsured motorists insurance.

Same reason you pay for shock treatments in state hospitals

And the execution of death row inmates.

[katandmoon]

35. That is an entirely different discussion. This discussion is about paying for pregnancy costs

Vs. paying for abortion costs. Getting pregnant and having a child is a choice just like getting pregnant and NOT having a child is a choice.

[cliffordu]

38. I can't figure out where you stand on this except that you don't

want your money used in either regard....Is that right??

[katandmoon]

39. I am saying that if getting pregnant is one's responsibility, then

having abortion coverage should be equal with prenatal/delivery coverage.

[cliffordu]

40. All birth control methods can fail.

Aren't you really saying that if women cannot afford children or paying for their own abortions, they shouldn't have sex??

[katandmoon]

42. No, I'm saying pregnancy termination should be covered the exact same as pregnancy non-termination.

Terminating a pregnancy or carrying a pregnancy to term are both choices once a woman becomes pregnant. If her choice to carry to term is covered by insurance, so should her choice to terminate be covered by insurance.

[cliffordu]

43. Ahhh! I got it now.

Thanks!!

:hi:

[Ignis]

49. In all cases? So we blame the victims of rape and incest?

I'll take sweeping generalizations for $500, Alex!

Edit: Or you're just missing the :sarcasm:, perhaps?

[blogslut]

2. Not sure what you're talking about

I don't know the specific law but federal funds are not supposed to be used to pay for pregnancy termination and proposed health care reform bills state that that option will be covered by insurance companies that choose to cover the procedure.

[H2O Man]

3. Correct.

It's not Obama.

[blogslut]

Oh well

I guess we're being ignored. :hi:

[H2O Man]

17. It happens.

Sometimes more than others!

[myrna minx]

41. The Hyde Amendment prohibits federal funds to be used to pay for pregnancy termination.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyde_Amendment

:hi: You are correct.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

4. Sometime After Conference Committee...

...expect to hear, "How did THAT get in there. Oh, silly us!"

Bet on it. Which do you trust more: a single speech or a lieftime of defending women's rights?

So, he tried to shut-up the haters. He tried but it isn't his fault they WON'T shut-up. Let's roll up our sleeves and get back to work.

[harkadog]

13. You will lose your bet

The Hyde amendment prevents federal funds from being used for abortion.

[noamnety]

5. I am not surprised

"reaching across the aisle" seems to be code for enforcing extreme right wing positions and throwing oppressed groups under the bus.

(gays, women, citizens of countries we're invading)

And you are right, it will win over zero republicans. If they are opposed to the most basic of women's rights, they are ever going to support democrats. I wish the insurance companies would at least pull their heads out of their asses and realize it's in their own financial interest to cover that vs. a delivery.

[David Zephyr]

27. noamnety says "it will win over zero republicans". I agree.

It was gratutious and he should not have even put it into his speech.

[BeyondGeography]

6. I think it had something to do with not committing political suicide

[Rude Dog]

50. You tell yourself that.

You tell yourself that the Pugs will support anything Obama does. You tell yourself that they'll listen if we just keep giving in.

Look at the pictures of people waving threatening and racist signs at the behest of Fox Noise and the GOP, and tell yourself that, if you can keep lying to yourself.

[DevonRex]

8. Abortion is not now paid for with any government program.

That's the reality.

[monmouth]

10. I don't mind my tax dollars going for birth control of any all kinds, but

don't want to fund abortion....

[KoKo]

12. for any reason? Where do you draw the line...?

[KoKo]

11. Because he feels that "controversial issues" don't belong in getting a Bill Passed

that will Mark his Presidency. Nothing must stand in the way of geting "A BILL, Any Bill" passed. It's very pragmatic Politics. He feels that getting "something" is better than "nothing." He feels that what he gets will "open the door" to "something" he feels will work out down the road that can be passed.

He's not a person who wants confrontation. He feels one has to build a "consensus." He thinks that we need to go to the "middle" (that he sees and his advisors who "brung him to the Presidency") are seeing and they have counseled him that he must "Avoid Extremes."

That's what it is.

EXCEPT: He says twice..."I want to be the Last President pushing for ......"

Odd that...isn't it.

[David Zephyr]

28. Well said.

How does a poor girl raped by an relative get the money for an abortion? It's already hard enough as it is. In Europe, it's correctly considered a health issue. Thanks, KoKo.

[NoPasaran]

14. The Hyde Amendment bans using federal funds to pay for abortions

[baldguy]

18. +1

That's why the RW morlock's obsession with it is just plain stupid.

[katandmoon]

19. I was a Federal employee in 1993. And I can tell you that after Bill Clinton became president,

Federal employee health insurance coverage most certainly DID include abortions.

[KoKo]

23. Clinton had a Powerful "Women's Rights Movement" at His Back...

Sadly..."N.O.W. and Emily's List" are shadows of their former selves. :-( Movements reach a PEAK and then "drift down." We have been in the "drift down" since Bush II stole the election in '01.

[H2O Man]

25. That isn't the issue.

[katandmoon]

31. It most certainly is relevant in the context of THIS particular discussion

[KoKo]

33. agree...it is the topic ???

[David Zephyr]

29. Thanks for reminding some here of what once was.

And what still should be.

[H2O Man]

32. employees' carrier

distinct

[KoKo]

37. See post #26 for carrier experience.

[IndianaGreen]

45. Henry Hyde is dead

We didn't elect a Democratic Congress to preserve Hyde's legacy.

[David Zephyr]

46. Fortunately, we have someone here providing the correct perspsective. Thanks, IG.

"We didn't elect a Democratic Congress to preserve Hyde's legacy." I might make that my new sig line.

Amazingly, some actually must believe we did do just that. :)

[moriah]

16. If it means that those poor women and girls....

... will not be inundated by medical bills if they have an abnormal pap or another sign of cancer, I think maintaining the current status quo for federal funding of abortions is a legitimate compromise.

I speak from personal experience -- the cost of the abortion I had was much less than the cost, the same year, for multiple CTs and an excisional biopsy of my left supraclavicular lymph node. If I had to choose between one or the other being paid for out of my taxes, I would prefer the CTs and surgery. As it stood, I had to pay for both.

[totodeinhere]

20. Maybe he feels that the bill won't pass if it doesn't prohibit abortion funding.

Remember, politics is the art of the possible. It might not win over the GOP, but it might win over a few Blue Dog Dems.

[katandmoon]

21. I'm with your sister, mother and grandmother. But we are talking about Obama here. A man who

unnecessarily sucked up to the likes of Rick Warren. I have never seen a politician so eager to embrace his opponents, and so eager to reject his supporters, as Obama is.

[tritsofme]

22. Federal plans could still cover abortion without federal dollars paying for the procedure.

Or running afoul of the Hyde Amendment.

IIRC that was as far as the President's pledge went.

As long as dollars from premiums go in to paying for the services as opposed to dollars originating from the taxpayer, Obama keeps his pledge. There is legislation in the House that accomplishes this.

Republicans and some pro-life Democrats want to insert language that would ban these plans from paying for abortion period, I don't think that's where Obama was heading.

[KoKo]

26. If the Private Physicians still have control...they can mark on the Insurance "Code"

a "DNC or other Procedure" that will mask abortion ...yet qualify. Insurance now is up to the "Code" the Physician puts in. There are still doctors who know how to get around the "system" to fight for their patients. It worked before. I had two friends years ago in the early 70's who got pregnant and managed to have an early abortion under "DNC/DNE" guidelines because they had doctors who understood. Blue Cross/Blue Shield payed for both at Johns Hopkins Hospital. So...it was done back there, then...and as long as individual doctors can retain their freedom to prescribe for their PATIENTS...there's always a way. BTW...both were accidents with no hope of father being involved. It was early pregnancy. They were young professionals. What about the young girl who isa victim of rape or the older woman who can't afford to have anymore... Without the incomes...it's up to the woman to decide...the care and welfare of who she brings into the world. It should be choice...and the burden always is there ...nothing is done easily for most.

[katandmoon]

36. Oh, yes it was.

[MasonJar]

30. Obama is going to give up on the public option before it's over, so

why would anyone exxpect him to support legally performed abortions or medical treatment for illegals. I do not get it. If any of us go to France or to England or to Cuba for that matter, we can receive free treatment so now illegal aliens will still be at our emergency rooms, but the hospitals and local governments will have to eat that, n'est pas?

[KoKo]

34. Obama is the victim of his "comity." Or, perhaps his true beliefs

were something that Progressive Democrats wished to see that just wasn't there. It's still too early to know. So far, it would seem he really just wants to "get along" and try to do some good in that way that he thinks is "THE WAY." We don't know for sure, yet. We will know soon, though.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/comity

* Main Entry: co·mi·ty
* Pronunciation: \ˈkä-mə-tē, ˈkō-\
* Function: noun
* Inflected Form(s): plural co·mi·ties
* Etymology: Latin comitat-, comitas, from comis courteous, probably from Old Latin cosmis, from com- + -smis (akin to Sanskrit smayate he smiles) — more at smile
* Date: 1543

1 a : friendly social atmosphere : social harmony <group activities promoting comity> b : a loose widespread community based on common social institutions <the comity of civilization> c : comity of nations d : the informal and voluntary recognition by courts of one jurisdiction of the laws and judicial decisions of another
2 : avoidance of proselytizing members of another religious denomination

[IndianaGreen]

44. Pregnant girls and poor women just got thrown under the bus

LGBTs, single-payer advocates, and antiwar people already under Obama's bus must now make room for another group of betrayed people.

[inna]

47. i could not agree with you more.

i'm very disappointed by Obama. :(

KR btw, it's sad that this thread is in the negatives.

[IndianaGreen]

48. It's because of the ton-ton Macoutes

who unrec anything that does not deify their Papa Doc.

[earth mom]

51. I agree with your family-it was a chickenshit and a bullshit move. nt

[bunkerbuster1]

52. Agreed, but probably politically necessary.

Let's face facts--handing the conservatives that wedge issue would be fatal to the bill's chances.

That's just the state of abortion politics today. Obama can't fix everything his first year in office; he certainly can't fix that kind of stupid.