Ann Friedman writes at Feministing (there is a non-swearing version at The American Prospect :
On some level, I don’t care about the nitty-gritty details of this amendment. This isn’t just about how the money is allocated or what workarounds exist. This has me so incredibly infuriated because it further segregates abortion as something different, off the menu of regular health care. It is a huge backward step in the battle to convey — not just politically, but to women in their everyday lives — that reproductive health care is normal and necessary, and must be there if (or, more accurately, when) you need it.
But, of course, abortion is something different. Abortion is not health care, as Fr. Frank Pavone of Priests for Life so aptly explained earlier this year:
Some people think abortion is health care. But what disease does abortion cure? What medical problem does abortion solve? There is actually no proven medical benefit to this procedure.
A medical procedure is supposed to help the body to do something it’s supposed to do but is having trouble doing. Abortion is just the opposite. The body is already doing what it’s supposed to do — that is, nourish and protect the unborn child. Abortion stops all that, killing the child and harming the mother. It is the reverse of a medical procedure.
Before doing any procedure, a physician has to know what medical purpose and benefit the procedure will provide to the patient. There is no disease that abortion cures. It should not in any way be considered health care.
