Unhappy Birthday to the Amendment That Started the War on Women
by Jessica Arons Sep 30, 2012 4:45 AM EDT
Today marks the 36th birthday of an amendment aimed at prohibiting poor women from getting an abortion—and setting the stage for today's battles, argues Jessica Arons of the Center for American Progress.
Earlier this year, when an all-male congressional panel debated whether employer health plans should have to cover birth control and Rush Limbaugh lambasted law student Sandra Fluke for arguing that they should, many people were left asking, “When did birth control become controversial?” In some ways, we can thank former Rep. Henry Hyde (R.-Ill.) for setting us on this path.
The attacks on contraceptive coverage can be traced back to an amendment of his that turns 36 years old today. The Hyde Amendment prohibits coverage for abortion in the Medicaid health-insurance program for the poor in all but the most limited circumstances. This law restricts insurance coverage for reproductive health care—just as conservatives are now seeking to do with birth control—and it has been justified by the argument that those who oppose something shouldn’t have to subsidize it. It’s the same argument being advanced to suggest that employers shouldn’t have to cover contraception in their employee health plans.
It is always easiest to go after the rights of the most vulnerable first. Hyde himself admitted, “I certainly would like to prevent, if I could legally, anybody having an abortion, a rich woman, a middle-class woman, or a poor woman. Unfortunately, the only vehicle available is the…Medicaid bill.”
A woman who cannot afford to pay for an abortion must raise the money somehow, often by putting off paying rent or utility bills, begging and borrowing from friends and family, and pawning dear or necessary items. Some women end up continuing the pregnancy against their better judgment or taking drastic steps to end the pregnancy themselves.
Read more:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/09/30/unhappy-birthday-to-the-amendment-that-started-the-war-on-women.html
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"...and it has been justified by the argument that those who oppose something shouldn’t have to subsidize it."
Then I don't want any taxes to subsidize war, so bring the troops home.
Why do they get their way on their issues & no one in the media ever calls them out on it? The media is so much a part of the problem. 
