What We're Reading This Morning -- May 25
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Good morning, everyone and happy Friday! While many were busy preparing for the long weekend, the Senate was busy at work — adopting an amendment that would protect women in the military who were sexually assaulted, and passing an amendment that would permanently repeal the global gag rule — protecting access to family planning services for women around the world. Here’s what we’re reading today…
A new Gallup poll shows that while less people are subscribing to the “anti-choice” label, a majority of Americans believe abortion should be a safe and legal procedure. “The Problem With Polling About Moral Beliefs”—“Another year, another Gallup poll on abortion for anti-choicers to misleadingly represent in a bid to deceive the country into believing they're winning in the court of public opinion. Of course, Gallup shares the blame for this travesty, since it publishes its polling results with a lead about the poll that asks if people identify as pro-choice or pro-life. Inevitably, ‘pro-life’ polls well, much better than it would if it were more accurately phrased as ‘anti-choice’ or ’anti-abortion,’ because it's a fuzzy-wuzzy term that deliberately distracts from the legal and sexual freedom issues at the heart of the abortion debate. This year, the poll found that 50 percent of Americans relate to the empty term ’pro-life,’ and only 41 percent to the term ‘pro-choice.’ But if you actually bother to read on, you'll find that Americans are still majority pro-choice, which is why the direct abortion ban in South Dakota and the personhood law in Mississippi went down when put to an actual vote. Scrolling down, you find that only 20 percent of Americans support the anti-choice movement's goal in banning abortion, with 25 percent of Americans supporting abortion rights in all cases, and 52 percent of Americans wanting abortion legal with some restrictions.”
Senator Shaheen’s amendment, which would finally provide abortion access to military women who are sexually assaulted, was adopted into the defense bill. “Senate Armed Services Committee Votes to End Military Ban on Insurance Coverage of Abortion Care for Rape and Incest”—“The Senate Armed Services passed an amendment today to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would end the ban on insurance coverage of abortion care for military women and dependents who experience rape or incest. The amendment was introduced by Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH). In November 2011, anti-choice senators refused to allow the Shaheen amendment to come to the floor, so the 2012 NDAA was signed into law with the ban in place. Today's vote affects the FY 2013 NDAA. There are some 400,000 women in the United States Armed Forces; they and their families receive health care and insurance through the Department of Defense's Military Health System. The department currently denies coverage for abortion care except when a pregnant woman's life is endangered. Unlike other federal bans on abortion coverage, the military ban provides no exception for cases of rape and incest. As a result, those seeking safe abortion care after rape or incest must pay out-of-pocket for such care at a military facility.”
Where will women get care in Texas? “Will Low-Income Women in Texas Find Care Without Planned Parenthood? An Analysis of the System Says the Answer is No”—“While the State of Texas battles in court for what it says is its right to exclude Planned Parenthood from participating in the Medicaid Women's Health Program (WHP) there, the Texas Health and Human Services commission is sending mixed messages to the more than 50,000 women who currently rely on Planned Parenthood for their care through the WHP. Instead of waiting for the courts to decide whether Planned Parenthood, considered by the state of Texas to be an ‘abortion affiliate,’ can participate in WHP, the state's HHSC last week sent out a mailer to 100,000 low-income women enrolled in the program advising them that Planned Parenthood could no longer provide WHP services -- despite the fact that it has not yet been excluded. The mailer directed women to the new Texas Women's Health Program website, which initially excluded Planned Parenthood from its provider listings, which have since been amended to include Planned Parenthood clinics. The site is meant to help WHP enrollees find doctors who will provide reproductive and contraceptive care, and at first glance appears to shore up Governor Rick Perry's claims that the WHP would do just fine without Planned Parenthood, despite the fact that it provides services to half of the WHP's members.”
