Another day, another battle in the Republican War on Women

Last December, in a rare veto of Republican legislation by Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, bills changing the operating structure of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan were shot down. The reason Governor Snyder gave was that he objected to language in the bill that would require women to purchase a separate abortion coverage rider on their insurance if they wanted that coverage. It would not be part of the basic insurance coverage, unlike, say, Viagra or Cialis for men is. He said that the legislation went “too far in two ways. First, it treats situations that involve rape, incest and health of the mother as elective abortions. I don’t believe it is appropriate to tell a woman who becomes pregnant due to a rape that she needed to select elective insurance coverage. Second, the abortion changes in this bill interfere in the current private market for insurance. Insurance companies and private buyers of insurance should be able to conduct their own affairs.”

You would think that would be the end of this patently ridiculous idea that women should have to buy separate abortion coverage.

You would be wrong.

Reports coming out of Lansing suggest that Republicans are working diligently to restore the abortion insurance rider provision to any upcoming BCBSM reform legislation, perhaps getting around Gov. Snyder’s objections by making exceptions for victims of rape or incest or when the woman’s health is at risk. All other women will have to plan ahead for their unplanned pregnancies. Republicans HAVE to do this because, apparently, there are some essential Republican votes that they cannot get unless they include onerous and insulting abortion restrictions in the bills.

Abortions are safe. Abortions are legal. Abortions are medical procedures and should be viewed as such. Ending unplanned pregnancies with an abortion is not murder, it’s a medical procedure and those that oppose them should not have them. Requiring women to plan ahead for unplanned pregnancies is beyond ridiculous. It is just one more example of Republicans who claim to be against “Big Government” attempting to pass laws that insinuate our government into the private lives of women.

The most offensive part about this is that these are battles that were already fought several decades ago. The fact that Republicans are forcing us to fight them again is clear evidence that they are incapable of evolving and in 2014, we will end their ability to impose their so-called “morality” on the rest of the state.