The right wing have been saying this to us for decades, however I never expected fellow democrats to throw us under the bus by enabling this retrograde state.

If I don't support the HCR bill coming through the senate apparently I'm just being a stupid selfish woman and abortion is not a health issue anyway.

First we have the Hyde amendment directly targeting poor women with its obvious racial slant.

Passed by Congress in 1976, the Hyde Amendment excludes abortion from the comprehensive health care services provided to low-income people by the federal government through Medicaid. Congress has made some exceptions to the funding ban, which have varied over the years. At present, the federal Medicaid program mandates abortion funding in cases of rape or incest, as well as when a pregnant woman's life is endangered by a physical disorder, illness, or injury.

http://www.aclu.org/...

This was the first step in overturning Roe V Wade by fiscal means, if you have not got the money your rights are restricted.

Now we still have Stupak-Pitts in the House version of the Bill.

"Today’s vote in the House of Representatives in favor of the Pitts-Stupak amendment to deny women access to abortion in health care reform legislation is a direct attack on women's right to make private health care decisions," said Vania Leveille, ACLU Legislative Counsel. "By prohibiting individuals who receive federal subsidies from purchasing private insurance plans that provide abortion care, even when they contribute to the cost with their own funds, members of the House have grossly distorted the meaning of health care reform."

http://www.aclu.org/...

Its still hanging around on the street corner and has not gone away.

An aide to Rep. Bart Stupak (D. Mich.) coordinated opposition this morning to a Senate compromise on the place of abortion in health care legislation this morning with the Republican Senate leadership, the Conference Catholic Bishops, and other anti-abortion groups, according to a chain of frantic emails obtained this morning by POLITICO.

http://www.politico.com/...

The Church is still lurking in their frocks swinging incense and threatening eternal damnation, plus they are seriously messing with the first amendment of our constitution.

Now the Senate is proposing

Under the new abortion provisions, states can opt out of allowing plans to cover abortion in the insurance exchanges the bill would set up. The exchanges are designed to serve individuals who lack coverage through their jobs, with most receiving federal subsidies to buy insurance. Enrollees in plans that cover abortion procedures would pay with separate checks -- one for abortion, one for any other health-care services.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/...

This again goes against the findings of SCOTUS in Roe v Wade, that individual States cannot restrict access. Again this is via the financial route.

So now when this Bill is voted upon it will go into committee to reconcile both the House and Senate Bills to go back to the House for a vote.

They may well have a deal in the Senate that costs more than the public Option version however the signals are coming from the House that this is not the end of the matter.

No matter what the deal will in the end be; it is a retrograde step.

My other objection is that it is possibly over-riding of our constitutional rights by being forced to buy insurance from for profit companies

Under the bill, most Americans would be required to have insurance. The penalty for violating this requirement could be as high as 2 percent of a taxpayer’s household income. Penalties would total $15 billion over 10 years, up from $8 billion under Mr. Reid’s original proposal, the Congressional Budget Office said. In the next 10 years, the government would also collect $28 billion in penalties from employers who did not offer health benefits to employees.

http://www.nytimes.com/...

Summary

The negotiations for lower drug costs were bartered away immediately by smooching up to big PhRMA.

Medicare extension was denied.

The Public option which would have made the buy in acceptable and fair was deleted.

The Insurance companies being almost impossible to prosecute for rescission are doing the happy dance.

That is one hell of a give away.

Why the delays in implementation they serve no purpose.

Forcing a buy in to for profit insurance may well turn out to be unconstitutional and threaten the whole Bill anyway. Expect plenty of legal action probably by PhRMA and the insurance companies, the inbuilt delays and complexity of the Bill are setting up the perfect storm.

The return of the back street abortionist may well be on the cards; with all the absolute horror that entails.

Now

I am being told that it is OK if I and 159 million others have to pay a gender supplement to be covered.

I am being told to shut up about my rights and my health by both sides of the aisle.

If you really believe 30 million more will receive affordable health care and will not be subjected to discrimination via pre-existing conditions and rescission your are living in cloud cuckoo land.

Therefore.

I know there is nothing I can do to prevent this horrible compromise its a done deal and some good may yet still come out of this however:

I cannot support this Bill nor those trying to flog me this dead horse.

I will move on to the next fight, and the one after but the fight still continues for Medicare for all.

No Avatar nor pictures today, its not a good day

Love

Alessandra.



Update:

Thanks for all the comments and thank you for reading my diary and my opinion.

Good, bad, derisory.

I always learn something from 99% of them and if I was right all the time and 100% of what I say was absolutely correct well:

Obama wouldn't be the President, and I really wouldn't want that job in a million years.

Let's see how Health Insurance reform goes, its on its way for better or worse back to the House.

I still don't like it for the above reasons, I hope sincerely that I am proved 100% wrong.

Have a great day Kossacks.