Freedom For Sale - The Paper Burqa

  

The National Organization of Women is on fire because of Obama's abortion concessions which are seen as effectively cosigning the Hyde amendment. For those of you unfamiliar with the amendment, it states that NO Federal funding may be used for abortions with some exceptions. (rape, incest, and the like.) Recommendations in Hyde are being used to modify national health care reform to appease those who are staunchly anti-abortion. 

   Now this is a tricky issue because of the pseudoreligious hijacking of public office . Those on the far right do not even want women to be able to obtain abortions in the gravest of instances and those on the far left want access for all on the public tab. The Stupak amendment on the floor right now would PROHIBIT new insurance companies and plans from being permitted to cover abortions, even if the company wants to . It would also bar women on ANY federal subsidy from purchasing a plan that covers such procedures, even if they never wish to obtain one. 

  Now, the Stupak amendment is indeed a sexist denial of female freedom. Under the new rules, women are all being painted as potential procurers of abortion regardless of age or health. One gender could be forced to change insurance companies should they require any assistance in maintaining coverage if her coverage includes such things. What this will do is restrict the gender seen as being incapable of deciding for themselves from obtaining the best insurance plans offered. The top-of-the-line providers that may provide coverage for abortions also cover early mammograms, birth control, and a myriad of pre-screening and diagnostic procedures. These changes may be irreversible and women may die as a result. 

  While I do generally see NOW as overboard, my own research into their original objection (Hyde) has unearthed something that for me is far more heinous than the amendment of 1976 ever intended. We have moved into a time where women are being reduced to our parts, and those parts are owned by someone other than ourselves. We must take ownership back from cults that undermine the health and security of 54% of the population. Continual pandering to the wills of preacher men will result in our democracy becoming a theocracy. We will become the state we propose to hate. 

   Not all Burqas are cut from cloth. Sometimes they are printed on a paper sheet used to cover up our inhumanity and violate the rights of others. The Christian Right is neither.