It’s About High-Quality Health Care

On 1/28, Tara Broderick’s letter to the editor titled, “It’s About High-Quality Health Care,” was published in print and online. It commemorated Roe v. Wade and called for comprehensive health care reform.

Editor:

As we marked the 37th anniversary of the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade on Jan. 22, we find ourselves in a battle to preserve private health insurance coverage for abortion for millions of women.

We all want a health care system that is better for our families, not a battle over abortion. Unfortunately, politicians seem to have lost sight of the real goal of health care reform -- access to high-quality, affordable health insurance coverage. At the same time, anti-choice activists have set their sights on the bills before Congress. They are using this opportunity to try to eliminate private health insurance coverage for abortion.

For decades, federal policy has prohibited federal taxpayer dollars from paying for abortions. However, the current House and Senate health care bills go way beyond this policy. The Stupak amendment, voted for by Representative Boccieri, introduced a maze of restrictions on access to abortion coverage.

As a result, instead of expanding health insurance options, these bills actually restrict the type of insurance policies that Americans can buy with their own money.

Our elected officials are supposed to be fixing health care, not making it worse. Congress must find a solution that ensures taxpayer dollars are not used to pay for abortions, while allowing individuals to select and pay for the private health insurance plans they want, including those that cover abortions. Restricting access to private health insurance coverage for abortion in effect denies women the very choices that Roe secured.

Tara Broderick

President and CEO, Planned Parenthood of Northeast Ohio