Between the Lines Q&A
A weekly column featuring progressive viewpoints
on national and international issues
under-reported in mainstream media
for release Nov. 12, 2009
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Pro Choice Groups Declare War
on Anti-Abortion Amendment in Healthcare Bill
RealAudio
MP3
Interview with Erin Matson,
Action Vice President of the National Organization for Women,
conducted by Melinda Tuhus
When the House of Representatives passed a health care reform bill, the measure included what some advocates of abortion rights call the most sweeping abortion restriction in 30 years. Negotiations in the House had been ongoing for months to maintain the status quo, regarding no taxpayer funding for abortions as enshrined in the 1976 Hyde amendment, which denies poor women federal funding for abortions. But when House legislators adopted an amendment proposed by anti-abortion Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) and Rep. Joseph Pitts (R-Pa.), they expanded the abortion ban to cover subsidized insurance policies which women buy with their own money. Sixty-four Democrats voted with virtually all the Republicans in favor of the amendment, which passed 240 to 194. The Conference of Catholic Bishops had lobbied hard for the Stupak-Pitts measure.
Pro-choice advocates maintain that birth control and abortion are integral parts of women's health care needs and insist that health care reform should not be a vehicle to deny a woman's fundamental right to choose. Many of these groups are now pushing the Senate to pass a health care bill that does not adopt the Stupak-Pitts amendment and are urging President Obama not to sign any health care bill that restricts women's reproductive rights.
Between The Lines' Melinda Tuhus spoke with Erin Matson, "Action Vice President" of NOW, the National Organization for Women. She discusses what the Stupak-Pitts amendment portends for reproductive services for millions of American women. And Matson explains what NOW and like-minded groups are doing to fight back.
ERIN MATSON: No additional restrictions on abortions in the health care package are necessary to specify that federal funds won't be used to pay for abortion. That said, the Stupak-Pitts amendment for the first time, would ban private insurance companies from covering abortions. What's going to happen here is women who receive subsidies for health care will be prevented from having abortion covered, even with 100 percent of their own money -- their own money that they give to private, profit-driven insurance companies, many of which currently offer abortion coverage -- unless they purchase an additional abortion rider. It seems quite possible that women who in fact are not receiving any subsidy from the government at all in the form of tax credits -- that even women who are paying 100 percent of their own money to participate in private health insurance plans that simply happen to be made available by these health exchanges -- would have to purchase an abortion rider, on top of the coverage that they're paying for completely by themselves. That's absolutely ludicrous. Who has money to purchase an abortion rider? Who would even plan to need an abortion rider? Am I gonna buy a cancer rider on my plan, just in case I might get cancer?
BETWEEN THE LINES: So, Erin Matson, what is the next step for NOW and others who oppose the Stupak amendment?
ERIN MATSON: We are a grassroots, activist organization. So, immediately following this horrific Stupak-Pitts amendment that came through literally in the middle of the night -- this was pushed through late Friday night, the decision was made to have the vote on the floor; then Saturday we're all putting out -- including other organizations that support us -- calls to please call your Congress representatives right away. Well, the switchboards were jammed! We weren't given the time to stop this in the way we traditionally would. So immediately, on Sunday, we planned a protest. I believe that we organized the first protest that's taken place on this. It happened yesterday outside the Russell Senate office building. We had so many people we got kicked out by the police after 45 minutes.
What we're doing is we're organizing grassroots response around the country, focusing on a few things. Number One, we want to make it very clear to our senators that nothing like this can be a part of the Senate legislation that moves through. So, we are targeting them intensely -- not just the traditional calls and letters, but we are urging NOW activists to go in delegations to go speak with their senators, or, if their senators are not available, to speak even in the local district office with the staff person dealing with health care reform. We are urging NOW members to publicize the results of those meetings, whether it's "We can count on you"; "We can't count on you"; or "We're not sure." We want to keep the heat on.
Number Two: We want to keep the heat on Congress, because there's a chance this could come out in conference committee [between the House and Senate versions]. We need to create a groundswell of support for that.
Number Three: We will move on to lobbying the White House at a certain point, because of course President Obama would be the one who would sign the health reform package into law, so we want to make sure that that is not something he will support.
But Number Four -- and this is really where NOW is unique -- we want women on the sidewalk; we want women in front of state houses; we want women in front of district offices; we want women wherever they can be seen -- over highway overpasses, in busy intersections -- and we want demonstrations just like yesterday.
BETWEEN THE LINES: Of course, abortion opponents had been talking about ways to make sure public money would not be used to fund abortions, but during most of the debate, the goal was supposedly to maintain the existing restrictions. But then this amendment passed, which goes far beyond that. Did you feel blindsided by what happened?
ERIN MATSON: This came through so quickly, in the middle of the night Friday, and the vote took place late Saturday night. That is simply outrageous. I think women were betrayed. Immediately following this vote, one of the first things I did was take a look at the Democratic Party platform. There's a line in there, and it said -- at this point they were talking about the Bush administration -- they said, "We oppose the current administration's consistent attempts to undermine a woman's ability to make her own life choices and obtain reproductive health care, including birth control. We will never put ideology above women's health." Now, I think it's very clear that women were betrayed.
Contact NOW by calling (202) 628-8669 or visit their website at www.now.org
Related links:
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Melinda Tuhus is a producer of Between The Lines, which can be heard on more than 45 radio stations and in RealAudio and MP3 on our website at www.btlonline.org. This interview excerpt was featured on the award-winning, syndicated weekly radio newsmagazine, Between The Lines for the week ending Nov. 20, 2009. This Between The Lines Q&A was compiled by Melinda Tuhus and Anna Manzo.
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