At almost the same time that the World Health Organization (WHO) released a report lamenting the many barriers that women face to accessing health care, the United States Congress threw up another such barrier in the form of the Stupak amendment blocking access to abortion. Fittingly, the WHO report noted that
“The obstacles that stand in the way of better health for women are not primarily technical or medical in nature. They are social and political, and the two go together.”
The Stupak amendment is a political obstacle to women’s access to health care driven by a social movement against abortion. As such it represents exactly the type of discriminatory barrier and gender based exclusion that the report highlights and impugns.
What the Stupak amendment does is prohibit federally subsidized health care plans from offering abortion coverage for everything but strict exceptions e.g. incest or threat to the woman/girl’s life. It also disincentivizes insurance companies from covering access to abortions because it bans the sale of such policies through the proposed national health insurance exchange. While some argue that supplemental coverage specifically for abortion will remain an option–with critics saying this is doubtful because the insurance companies will view the private market for this as too small to actually provide it–such supplemental coverage would still put a high economic burden on women. This means that regardless of the options out there women will continue to face monetary barriers to accessing safe abortions.
Critics are calling out Democrats for their lip service to women’s rights and abortion rights and their hypocritical support of the Stupak amendment. Representative Stupak is defending his amendment by saying it merely repeats current law that bans federal funding for abortions. But this entirely misses the point–the historic health care reform bill was about changing access to health care and removing barriers, not ahout upholding the status quo. Lawmakers are not obligated to “uphold” current law through this bill–the bill is new law. They’re free to make whatever changes they see fit, which belies their orientation: they don’t care enough about women’s access to abortions to help make true access a reality.
The WHO report and the critique of the Stupak amendment have much in common. The report opens by noting that “protecting and promoting the health of women is crucial to health and development–not only for the citizens of today but also for those of future generations.” Advocates who oppose the amendment state that “the [Democratic] party chose a course that risks the well-being of millions of women for generations to come.” While Representative Stupak defends the amendment as current law, the truth is that it expands the ban on access to abortions rather than simply maintains it. It expands barriers to accessing safe abortions because all of the women who participate in the proposed health care system of the near future–the system that was supposed to bring the U.S. out of the dark ages of health care and closer to a position where everyone in the country can actually afford to see the doctor when they need to–would now face the Stupak barrier, and unless we do something so will the women and girls of the next generation. Not only does the amendment represent a huge opportunity missed for increasing women’s rights and equality and improving their health choices, it entrenches barriers to safe abortions and institutionalizes inequalities, with women and girls getting the short end of the health care stick.
Advocates are working hard to make sure that the amendment does not pass in the Senate. Stupak and others are saying opposing the amendment will derail health reform. Such a position communicates that access to safe and affordable abortions is not considered a crucial part of health care for those making U.S. laws. As long as politicians continue to think this way, the inequalities that the WHO report highlights will continue to plague and greatly reduce the health of women and girls the world over.