I understand the objections of many citizens to paying for abortions or abortion insurance, but I don’t understand the apparent high level of interest in having or providing abortion insurance. With the average cost of an abortion running $500 or so, it doesn’t seem to be the kind of major expenditure a person would want to or need to insure against. If a person buys an abortion insurance policy, would it have a limit on the number of abortions that would be paid for? Would there be a deductible or a co-pay? Is abortion included in the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS)? Probably not. Would pregnancy be considered a pre-existing condition that can no longer be used to deny coverage? Could a guy buy abortion insurance to pay for an abortion for someone he impregnates?
I guess we are just talking about this because the training and indoctrination we the people have had for the last 45 years have led us to believe that, while we may be responsible for whether or not we get pregnant, somebody else should pay for all our medical needs and that it’s not up to us to worry about the cost. That’s a bad starting point, but we are apparently stuck with it.
Just to be clear about my position on the issue, I am pro-choice, pro-life, and anti-abortion and do not want to help pay for any abortions. Of course I know that the current politically correct position is that, because I am male, I am not entitled to any opinion other than “pro-choice,” but I still have one. At least I am a father and have remained committed to our two sons and their mother for forty something years. That ought to be worth something.
While researching the subject of abortion insurance, I found this interesting exchange between a Columbia University student and “Alice” at student health services. The student is a responsible person who is trying to avoid pregnancy but who apparently doesn’t see abortion as a moral issue. That’s OK, for now, I suppose. I don’t expect everyone to see it the same way I do. I have not always had the opinion I now have, so maybe as this student gets older and perhaps becomes a parent, she also will get wiser. Anyway, she is interested in how she would get an abortion if she were to need one and how she would pay for it and whether insurance would cover it and whether it would be confidential. The answer, pretty surprising to me, is that the Columbia University mandatory health services fee, which all full-time students pay, covers abortion costs up to $500 on a confidential basis.
I guess sometimes we have insurance we don’t even know about. There must not be any federal funding going toward payment of those health services fees.
BOB KRUMM: Peggy Noonan Gets It Almost Right….
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The logic for allowing any kind of late term abortion escapes me because I do not understand the logic of the right of a woman being able to make a decision versus the right of a baby to live. Abortion is clearly murder.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, I cannot find myself disagreeing with the use of the so-called "morning after" pill. It seems that a woman using this form of birth control - even though it may be considered as abortion by some - is exercising a degree of responsibility. A question arises about whether a child born in bad circumstances can have a good life, or whether he/she will have a miserable life possibly leading to a criminal life.
This dilemma has bothered me for years, but I have never seen any kind of public discussion of it. I recall some legislation (perhaps now the law?) which prohibits abortions after the first three months. My thinking is that surely if a woman cannot make up her mind within 3 months, she has made a decision to have the baby. I am very weak in the technical details about the development stages of a fetus to know where it is at three months.
I guess my thinking is that the abortion debate should have timing as a key element of the debate. It is well known but rarely discussed that natural miscarriages occur in the first three months - maybe as many as 1 in 3 or 4 pregnancies. Somehow in my mind, I cannot condemn a woman for having an abortion within two months, but I have no real basis for choosing that number. Clearly late term abortions are plain murder and must be condemned.
I really would like to know what other people think about this issue, and I hope that someone can explain why it seems to be a hush-hush issue when abortions are discussed in public or in state or national congresses. Please help me if you can.
Don Lane (dwlane@chartertn.net)