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Infants, Toddlers, & Preschoolers
LIVID update 11/16/09
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Anonymous
| Every time you post, OP, I want to high five you. Thank you for being such an eloquent and persistent advocate for us all. Wishing you and your family all the best. |
Anonymous
| I love you, OP! Go, Go, Go! |
Anonymous
|
I'm not interested in my tax dollars paying for countless abortions, just so that abortion is freely available in one or two incredibly rare justifiable instances.
As a matter of fact, I'm not interested in my tax dollars paying for any type of healthcare, period. Government has no business being involved with our healthcare at all. |
Anonymous
Many of us have lost children. Thousands, tens of thousands, of us have lost children. Clearly the OP has found a cause to get behind to help assuage her grief. Regardless, I still don't support the cause. |
Anonymous
|
OP here. Just to answer a few of the questions comments posed in prior postings.
The op ed is being rewritten in light of the greater healthcare debate and the Stupak amendment. I'm not sure when (or if) it will actually be published. It is all about timing and strategy and I'm leaving that to the people with whom I am working at the Center for Reproductive Rights. I wrote it and I'm going to be re-editing it this week. Therapeutic abortions are not so rare. I know two other women who have had to had them due to chromosomal abnormalities, neither of them Down Syndrome. One in three women have an abortion in her lifetime, according to the Guttmacher Institute. Abortion is a Constitutionally protected right, but yet people accept restrictions on access and funding every day because the antiabortion lobby is so strong. Again, 90% of PRIVATE health insurance plans cover therapeutic abortions. 50% actually cover elective abortions. It is a matter of fundamental fairness to feds. So many of you have been really nice and supportive. Like I sad in my speech yesterday morning, I am a very fortunate person. Everyone in my life is supportive, my husband, family, friends, my rabbi and even my boss. In addition, I was lucky enough to be in a position to be able to pay the 5000 that my insurance didn't cover. I know there are lots of women who are not in my position, I consider it a moral obligation to speak out and continue this fight. Believe me this isn't getting any easier. I just think it is too important. |
Anonymous
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"As a matter of fact, I'm not interested in my tax dollars paying for any type of healthcare, period. Government has no business being involved with our healthcare at all."
I take it you will not be accessing Medicare when you are older? |
Anonymous
Anonymous
| OP - You rock! |
Anonymous
| I actually work on one of the bills you mentioned. I have read your story and used it as an example of the unintended consequences of such provisions. Thank you for sharing your experience and for fighting for whats right. |
Anonymous
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I'm pro life, so no chance I am going to want to pay for someone else's abortion with my tax dollars. Not going to happen. The tens of millions of us who consider it murder would have a revolution before we would stand for that. Honestly its a non-starter. Politically that is the reality. Obama will doom his healthcare bill if he tries to fight over abortion.
All that said, what happened to OP sounds like a really raw deal. She got stuck with a huge bill. Why is a fed employee insurance plan different from any private employer plan? (i.e., is that considered "public" health-care? I don't look at it that way). What were her alternatives when she had the diagnosis? Were the only options to carry it to term or have this type of abortion? What were the chances of a miscarriage? What were the dangers to the mom of carrying to term? If she had called the insurance company and realized there was no chance of it being covered, what would she have done? Paid for the procedure out of pocket or gone to Plan B? |
Anonymous
Not sure if I should sputter with outrage and disbelief, or laugh. Government shouldn't regulate the purity of medicines? Shouldn't license doctors? Shouldn't issue and enforce guidelines for care? Shouldn't provide a safety net? I assume in your utopia, the entire gigantic healthcare system will be maintained by rational self-interest. |
maria
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Dear OP, Thank you for all the hard work you've done on this important issue. I know it must be hard to tell and retell your story. It probably would have been easier for you to try to forget and move on, but I applaud your courage and persistence for sake of other women in similar situations.
OP, will you be willing to share your story on the DCUM Blog? I'm sure you'd wish to remain anonymous, so Jeff or I could publish your post for you. Just send us a private message how to contact you. Thank you! |
Anonymous
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OP, I'm listening to the NPR link right now with tears in my eyes. I've been amazed with the tact, grace, strength,and eloquence with which you've handled this so far and am even more so now after hearing the speech.
My heart goes out to you and and your husband. And thank you for having the bravery and strength to fight this fight. |
Anonymous
Or taking advantage of the H1N1 vaccine, (paid for by the federal government?) |
Anonymous
Because although federal employees pay some of their premium, their employers, the federal government, also pay some of the premium. Therefore, people say that "my tax dollars are paying for federal employess health care". I think that's ridiculous. It's like me saying, "My tax dollars pay for the highway you drive on to get to your medical care; therefore you cannot have certain types of health procedures I disappove of, if you need to drive on my highway in order to get to the clinic". |