"The men who have brought us this [amendment] don’t single out a procedure that is used by a man, or a drug that is used by a man, that involves his reproductive health care, and say they have to get a special rider...There is nothing in this amendment that says if a man some day wants to buy Viagra, for example, that his pharmaceutical coverage cannot cover it, that he has to buy a rider."
This is the latest drivel in the health care debate brought to the Senate floor by Barbara Boxer this past Monday in response to the Nelson Amendment, a proposal "to ensure that no federal funds are used to pay for abortion."
After Senator Reid's ridiculous statement comparing health care reform to slavery, this recent absurdity reminds me of the Jim Carrey movie, Dumb and Dumber. What the heck does Viagra have to do with abortion? How is there any comparison between an erection (or lack thereof) and terminating the life of a fetus? Either Barbara Boxer is on drugs, is showing her ignorance, or worse, she's demonstrating her lack of sensitivity for the unborn.
Nebraska’s Senator Ben Nelson noted that the current Senate health care bill does “allow taxpayer dollars, directly and indirectly, to pay for insurance plans that cover abortion.” Nelson led the charge along with nine others Senators, offering an amendment that mirrored the Stupak Amendment language that was passed by the House last month and was to extend the Hyde Amendment, which was passed by Congress in 1976, barring public funds from covering abortion.
Abortion is an extremely contentious topic and even though the goal of the ten Senators was not to take a woman’s "right to choose" away but to make sure taxpayers don't have to foot the bill, it was rejected yesterday by the Senate with a 54-45 vote. While I'm sure Boxer did some high fives, Majority Leader Harry Reid had a message of his own: "The legislation is about access to health care, not abortion." Do Boxer and Reid know that an abortion is an elective medical procedure with the goal of ending a life, not health care aimed at caring for and saving lives? When are these progressive Democrats going to get out of their pathetic ideology and off their "we know what is best for America" pedestal for just a few minutes and do what is right? Or at least they can choose proper analogies to make their point.
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Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Jeanne Browne
It's very late and I'm very tired as I write this, and in my heart I know it's entirely pointless -- yet I feel compelled to state the obvious: there are/were/are (I've lost track of where things stand) a number of provisions in the health care reform bill now under consideration by the Senate that, ONCE AGAIN (as usual) seek to save money, appease the Right, and punish female sexuality by forcing restrictions and/or requirements on women in relation to health care costs and services that would NEVER be imposed on men. When all this brouhaha is completed, we will end up with a reform bill that ignores the practical needs of women, "illegals," and in many respects, virtually all poor, working-class and middle-class people. We will remain the world's richest and most advanced industrial nation with the world's poorest and most ineffectual health care system, because people like Lakatos and others commenting here and elsewhere on BC are more concerned with the unborn than living, breathing, adult women, and, millions of Americans genuinely believe that health care is a privilege and a responsibility rather than a basic human right. I'm so sick of the meanness, stupidity, short-sightedness, judgmental, ungenerous, provincial crap that has pumped up the volume on the health care issue from Day One. In the end, the health care industrial complex will win the day and sick people without money and/or advocates will continue to be mistreated, untreated, and die. Way to go, flag-wavers. You may not be very bright, but you're undeniably tenacious, strong, and fortified from many quarters. I may feel better in the light of day, but right now, my greatest feeling is: the hell with it. With any luck, there will be enough upheaval and disaster in 2012 to convince the survivors that a new order is in order. Meanwhile, I'm going offline before I shoot the screen...
2 - Jordan Richardson
When are these progressive Democrats going to get out of their pathetic ideology and off their "we know what is best America pedestal” for just a few minutes and do what is Right?
Fixed that for, you Christine...
3 - Cindy
When are these progressive Democrats going to get out of their pathetic ideology and off their "we know what is best America pedestal” for just a few minutes and do what WE (on the right) KNOW is right--right?
P.S. Having an erection is an elective condition, last I heard.
80 billion a year going to kill people in the Afghanistan war and we have zero articles decrying that from those who are obsessed with saving people who do not even exist yet and controlling other people's bodies.
4 - Jordan Richardson
If there's anything I've learned from writing in the politricks section here, it's that the small, petty issues get much, much more play than, say, China or Afghanistan or torture. You really want to get people going here, you need to talk about abortion or gay people or a 0.000001% tax increase or the possibility of doing something for others.
That type of shit really gets people steamed.
5 - Dave Nalle
Jeanne, it would seem to me that if you're concerned about women you'd be as outraged as Christine is by the fact that a major medical procedure for women like abortion was dismissively compared to viagra. The comparison is offensive whether you are pro-life or pro-choice, because it minimizes the concerns of women and lowers a pregnancy to the level of importance of a flaccid penis. Boxer's statement ought to be offending you, but your ideological beliefs about abortion lead you to accept a diminishment of the importance of womens health issues.
Dave
6 - Christine
Jordan, normally I would agree with you, but I hardly think that abortion is trivial..quite the opposite.
There are currently 1.3 million abortions performed each year in the United States.
From the standpoint of how this topic got some attention, that I have to agree with you. Unfortunately, our culture is all screwed up, with priorities way out of wack!
7 - Jordan Richardson
Oh Dave, wonderful work with the spin there. Does it ever get tiring looking for a way to do that with each and every thought that occurs to you? All of what you said would be true were that what Boxer actually said and not your own interpretation of it.
Christine, I do think that abortion is a petty issue when compared to the other issues I mentioned. I do think it remains a hot button issue for philosophical reasons and that it is an issue that largely centers around the basic idea of when life begins.
This is a question that currently lacks a concrete answer that will satisfy both sides of the debate. And I'd argue that it will never have a satisfactory answer to both sides of the debate because both sides of the debate have already chosen sides. Funny how that works...
All we can really base our views on in order to find some consensus is, unfortunately, what the laws say about personhood. When W. brought The Unborn Victims of Violence Act of 2004, for instance, it inferred that the fetus could be considered an "unborn victim of a crime." That differs from state to state, of course, with many states adding a slew of complications to how a person is defined and whether or not a fetus could be a victim.
Canada has a somewhat different view, though, with the law stating that a fetus becomes a human being only when it is born. From the text: "A child becomes a human being within the meaning of this Act when it has completely proceeded, in a living state, from the body of its mother, whether or not (a) it has breathed; (b) it has an independent circulation, or (c) the navel string is severed."
In light of that:
I find it hard to wrap my head around people who choose to embrace crippling economic policies and a cruel foreign policy that most certainly impacts those whose existence as humans are in no doubt from a philosophical or legal standpoint.
An abortion, to me, is a medical procedure that is the providence of a woman and her physician. It is a private matter given the legal definition of a child and my own philosophical views and, as such, arguing about the misunderstanding of a quote from Boxer seems obnoxious and trivial in light of the other larger issues in our world.
That is, of course, my perspective and you are welcome to your own. I appreciate that you, unlike Dave, don't go to such great lengths to twist and distort the point of view of those you disagree with.
8 - annie for Palin
How does anyone as stupid a boxer get elected?
9 - Baronius
I don't know about whether insurance should cover Viagra. Technically, ED is a medical problem, but it doesn't seem too important. No one ever died from it. Then again, maybe the answer to the conundrum is that there shouldn't be a national policy on any of this stuff.
10 - Miguel Perez
What a poor argument, is this from people who run our country?
That’s why our country is like it is.
Besides I don’t understand how the comfort of a woman who can decide to get pregnant or not can be more important than an unborn life.
I don’t want to pay to kill a child.
Viagra is the same as killing an unborn child? COME ON!!!!!!!!!
11 - roger nowosielski
Say what you will, it's a gross if not purposeful misunderstanding that Boxer suggested that the abortion procedure is equivalent to the condition of erectile dysfunction and the Viagra remedy. The point of the comparison was merely to highlight the double standard between women and men as regards the choices which are available to them (and sanctioned by law) as regards their sexual practices. The point of the hypothetical argument merely is: if abortion is not be borne by public funding, let's extend the same restriction to such "drugs" as Viagra.
Sounds fair to me.
12 - doug m
Annie, being for Palin disqualifies you from understanding your own question.
Baronius, do you also feel old age is a medical problem because it is more a sympton of that then anything else? When 20-year-olds starting suffering from it, then it's a problem.
13 - Dr Dreadful
Having an erection is an elective condition, last I heard.
In a healthy man, most of the time, Cindy, you are correct.
However, there are certain circumstances in which an erection is most certainly not an elective condition, such as:
1. Giving an important presentation in a business meeting.
2. Meeting your girlfriend's parents for the first time.
3. Receiving communion.
4. Making your major league debut on national television.
5. Meeting the Queen of England.
These are all circumstances in which an erection is highly undesirable, but inevitable.
14 - roger nowosielski
Inevitable? That would be a problem.
15 - Christopher Rose
Dave, abortion isn't a major medical procedure...
16 - Cindy
lol Dr.D, yes, I quite forgot about those exceptions... ahhhh, sometimes I really appreciate being female. Poor males...no privacy at all. Probably why priests and other religious men wear those robes. ;-)
17 - Dr Dreadful
abortion isn't a major medical procedure...
Depends when and how it's done, Chris. Under the worst circumstances, it can be spectacularly major.
18 - zingzing
"Meeting the Queen of England" leads to an "inevitable erection?" fantastic.
there's a website out there devoted to showing pictures of men with the unfortunate boner. some of them are quite hilarious.
what i hate is when you go a formal party and you drunkenly pick up a girl and you're making out in loose dress pants on a crowded subway at 2 am. quite the public display. talk about a walk of shame.
19 - Baronius
Dread, you left out "7th to 11th grades".
Doug, I don't think anyone's entitled to sex. If we're going to take health care seriously, let's not put Viagra in the same category as Interferon.
20 - Dr Dreadful
"Meeting the Queen of England" leads to an "inevitable erection?" fantastic.
Just a consequence of that landmark piece of legislation authored by Sen. Murphy (I-SoD).
But ye cats, zing. Why would you voluntarily attend a formal party?
Oh, the aforementioned girl. Never mind.
21 - Freedom of Choice
(1) Has anyone ever died from not receiving Viagra? No.
(2) Has anyone ever died from NOT receiving an abortion? Yes.
But who cares about the women, even if it's the result of rape or incest, or if the child is severely malformed! We must protect what's really important - our GOP erected officials!
22 - Baronius
FOC, the Nelson and Stupak aroposals have exceptions for rape, incest, and mother's health. Would you support them?
23 - Baronius
A side note - is El Bicho persona au gratin around here these days? His comments keep disappearing.
24 - zingzing
"But ye cats, zing. Why would you voluntarily attend a formal party?"
the aforementioned girl was heretofore unbeknownst to me. and it was a halloween party, where everyone had to dress up like republicans to spook ourselves, which sounded like fun. and there was free and plentiful booze. i brought beer, but i drank whiskey!
25 - Christopher Rose
Doc D, any medical procedure has the potential to be major in the worst circumstances; I almost died in a dentist's chair once.
However, an abortion is not normally a major medical procedure and women have been leaving the premises shortly after undergoing one for decades, so pick some other nit!