Critics of pending health care reforms claim they want to ensure that the government does not thrust itself between patients and doctors to dictate what medical procedures can be performed. Yet many are trying to do just that when it comes to one legal and medically valid service: abortion.
Republicans and anti-abortion Democrats in both houses of Congress are seeking to prohibit millions of Americans ”” those who might receive tax subsidies to help them buy insurance ”” from purchasing plans that would cover an abortion.
In a rational system of medical care, there would be virtually no restrictions on financing abortions. But abortion is not a rational issue, and opponents have succeeded in broadly denying the use of federal dollars to pay for them, except in the case of pregnancies that result from rape or incest or that endanger a woman’s life.
These restrictions…constitute an improper government intrusion into Americans’ private lives….