Throwing women under the bus

Last night, members of the U.S. House of Representatives compromised on an amendment within the giant health care reform bill that rolls the clocks back 30-plus years. I understand compromise, but this is not compromise. This is caving.

This afternoon, a group of Hartford-area organizations — among them Planned Parenthood of CT, NARAL Pro-Choice CT, and CT National Organization for Women — sponsored a “Speak-out for Reproductive Rights” at Trinity College, and activists young and old each had five minutes at the microphone. The event was planned well in advance of Saturday’s House vote, and the mood was somber. Volunteer peacekeepers — trained to counter any flamboyant protests by people who oppose abortion rights — were not needed. Only one young college student took the mic and said she opposed abortion and though you could argue with her wording, she was perfectly polite and the audience was perfectly polite while they listened to her.

I’d spent the evening before watching C-SPAN’s coverage of the House debate on health care reform. I’ve learned to watch political debates surrounded by pillows, so that when I have to throw something at the screen — and I often have to throw something — I throw something soft. Saturday’s debate was fraught with misinformation and the kinds of compromises where a horse becomes a giraffe, and a great idea becomes  perfectly horrible one. The Stupak amendment is not progress, and if ever you thought a woman’s right to choose her reproductive destiny was carved in stone, you only need to read that amendment. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops had a huge hand in the language of this bill — which seems odd to me because I don’t remember voting for a single one of them. They are not elected representatives, and I do not hold share their view of a woman’s place in the world — this one or the one beyond. (Not everyone agrees they bear much blame for this.)

On Sunday, amid the seasoned activists and the young women tearfully saying they’d had abortions and told no one, one young 20-year-old stood up and, voice shaking, said she’d never felt so untrusted by her government to make her own decision about her reproductive destiny.

Ah, but we’re not done yet. It’s now the senators’ turn, and you’d do well by contacting yours to let them know that we’re not going back to the bad old days, no how and no way.