Category: Health

The U.S. Senate sent a last-minute holiday “gift” which half the country will find difficult to accept. In a disappointing move that sets women’s reproductive rights back, the U.S. Senate voted on final passage of its version of health care reform. Last weekend Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) sealed the 60th vote by caving into Sen. Ben Nelson’s (D-Neb.) demands with a “compromise” that would eventually do away with private as well as public insurance coverage for abortion care. This dangerous provision not only further stigmatizes abortion care but it makes it nearly impossible for any health plans to offer comprehensive coverage.

NOW President Terry O’Neill calls on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to refuse to make any deals to appease Ben Nelson or the Catholic Bishops or anyone else seeking to turn the health care bill into an anti-abortion vehicle.

NOW applauds the Senate for voting to table and effectively defeat the Nelson-Hatch Amendment to the health care reform bill. This victory is just one small step, however, toward enacting health care reform that recognizes health care as a human right, abortion as health care and women as deserving of coverage that meets all of their medical needs.