Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Here we go again! Abortion issue set to derail healthcare reform

Missouri's only president, Harry S Truman, first proposed nationalized health care in 1947 and watched as it was derailed by the moneyed interests who were making a killing keeping the system the way it was at that time.

The first step toward making sure everyone was covered came in 1965 when President Lyndon Johnson pushed through Medicare, and that probably would have been followed by coverage for children, and eventually coverage for everyone had he not been sidetracked by Vietnam.

Now, only a few days after the House, by a vote of 220 to 215 passed a health care measure, it looks as if many Democrats are willing to wreck the whole process if insurance will not cover abortions. And, as usual, pushing them all the way are the same groups that provide consistent backing in many of their campaigns:

As usual, we see the arguments being made that a majority of American's believe in "a woman's right to choose." Though I am not altogether certain that is true, I am fairly certain you would not find a majority of Americans who think that a public insurance plan should cover abortions, and you would find a wide majority of people who do not think that the focus on helping people deal with catastrophic illnesses and helping the poor to cover basic health needs should be shifted by the same interest groups who have turned our U. S. Supreme Court nominations into a farce.

After more than six decades of waiting, an opportunity, flawed though it may be, to reform the health care process has arrived. Leave it to the abortion-on-demand supporters to let their selfish, narrow interests stand in the way of helping millions.

***

(Randy Turner's new book, Newspaper Days, is available at Amazon.com.)

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

The missing girl was found at the McDonald County Sheriff Office. MHP and DFS strikes out again.

Anonymous said...

Randy, you are so wrong on this. First, if male vasectomies are covered by insurance, and if viagra is covered, then why aren't abortions covered? Like it or not, a woman can terminate a pregnancy at will up to a certain date. Get over it. It is the law.
It is time for people to get out of our business and our bedrooms. It is, after all, the 21st century.
That said, I hope that this debate does not derail the needed health care plan.

Anonymous said...

HUH??????? Allah Baktar......Obama
..........Afganistan...More Troops
Speech at Ft. HOOD by OBAMA ...BUSH already went there to console troops....Isreal getting ready to bomb bomb bomb IRAN, where is the local media on these things? All they want to report is that aunt Mollys cat got run over on 7th and Range Line. You report more local news than anyone Randy THANKS!

Anonymous said...

THE JOPLIN GLOBE is reporting a hostage situation at the state office building in Jefferson City. THE NEOSHO DAILY NEWS new electronic breaking news hasn't reported it yet, maby they want to hear from the Highway Patrol first. Meanwile the AP, Kansas City Star, and Kmox radio St. Louis have reported the story over an hour ago.

Anonymous said...

Am I missing something or have some of these comments gotten away from the subject? For the one person that did reply to the subject, why do you think that the rest of the hard working people should be required to pay for something that could have been prevented?? There is something that has been long forgotten, personal responsibility!!! I agree that the government should get out of our business, we need to hold people responsible and not force others to pay for BAD decisions!

Anonymous said...

One problem with the argument that "I don't want my money to go to pay for an abortion" neglects the fact that many of us have no problem with OUR tax dollars going to pay for that LEGAL option for a woman. So, fine, they won't spend your tax money on it, they can spend mine instead. I'm willing to be that there are enough people that are OK with it being spent on that to cover the amount that would be spent on that. And for those of you that want to micromanage everyone else's lives, please let me know who you are so I can divert my money away from your "need." I don't really want my money going to help people who are selfish regardless of what ails them.

Anonymous said...

That should say "I'm willing to bet" not "be."

Anonymous said...

Bad decisions? Bad decisions cause lung cancer, heart disease, emphysema, COPD, HIV/AIDS, STDs and a number of other ailments. Plus, people who ski and get broken necks, legs and arms, etc. If your logic holds, then none of these should be covered by insurance!!!!! The anti-abortion issue is just about control, and that is all. I'm not advocating abortion or any of the other medical issues; I certainly don't go skiing! But you surely realize your logical fallacy here.

Anonymous said...

Truth is, if men got pregnant, abortion would be not only covered by insurance, but available everywhere without restriction. And, another thing: before abortions were legal, women with financial means used to have their abortions in local hospitals, but they called them D & C's and nothing was ever said about it. Of course, women without those means weren't so lucky. This abortion argument is all about class warfare, control over women's bodies by society, and a desire to make a woman pay for a man's lack of control. Isn't it time we moved on to a better way of dealing with this? Insurance should cover it and should cover birth control and all things women need.

Anonymous said...

I just read through the comments and I would like to respond to the comment made by anonymous 8:26. The thought that came to my mind was a line from Sling Blade, "I like the way you talk".

Anonymous said...

You are so RIGHT on this. The whole abortion issue has been decided by the Supreme Court since the early 1970s.

Plenty of people do not like that decislions and that is their right. But do they REALLY care about people? After all, they are willing to hold the American people hostage to push their agenda.

Meanwhile people are having their HOMES TAKEN AWAY because of medical bankrupticies. People are dying without insurance because they are cancelled or they can't get insurance.

Others are between jobs. Others work 40 hours a week for small companies that have no health insurance.

Others pay HUGE premiums to greedy insurance companies for third rate coverage.

Now Washington Republicans want this all to continue. They will derail the bill for any reason.