The amendment passed by the House doesn't just limit funding of abortions by the government, it seems to ban all insurance companies from paying for abortions. According to Politico, this really offended our own Rosa DeLauro:
...(W)hen Pelosi announced late Friday that she would allow an amendment strictly limiting insurance coverage of abortions, it touched off an angry yelling match between DeLauro and another Pelosi confidant, California Rep. George Miller, and tears from some veteran female lawmakers, according to people in the room.
Some of the lawmakers argued that Pelosi was turning her back on a decades-long campaign by female Democratic members in support of abortion rights. Miller rose to Pelosi's defense, which resulted in an angry confrontation between him and DeLauro, said the sources...
In an interview, DeLauro denied yelling at Miller, although the Connecticut Democrat admitted that she made her views "strongly known" to those in the room.
Pelosi, and it turned out, even DeLauro, were willing to sacrifice one principle for another:
But in the end, DeLauro said, she and other pro-abortion-rights lawmakers weren't willing to derail the entire health care bill over the issue.
"I stood my ground," DeLauro said. "The speaker does that, Mr. Miller does that, [House Majority Leader Steny] Hoyer does that. We all stand our ground. We also know, we all know, that you must focus on the endgame, and that's to pass health care."
In terms of the greatest good for the greatest number, far more will benefit from the health care provisions in the bill as passed than will suffer from this restriction, but it is a sad day indeed for America when such a choice has to be made. |
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