Women's Health Care and Your Taxes

I found this article online last week and wanted to share it with you. My favorite line is when the author, Maureen O'Danu, writes that "so-called pro-life" groups have condemned a proposal by the Institute of Medicine to make certain services totally and completely covered for all U.S. women. These services include birth control (including sterilization); screenings for gestational diabetes, cervical cancer and HPV; counseling to help women prevent pregnancies and to help women space pregnancies further apart; counseling and equipment to promote breastfeeding; annual well-woman visits; counseling and screening for HIV and other STDs; and screening and counseling for domestic violence.

O'Danu writes: I say 'so-called' pro-life in this context because by any standard, the guidelines would clearly save lives, and improve the lives of women and children. When an organization stands against improved health care for women, it cannot accurately be termed 'pro-life'.

These groups are raising the old argument that they shouldn't have to pay taxes for something they're morally opposed to. Hey, what a great idea! I propose that those of us who are really pro-life stop paying our taxes toward:

  • Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq
  • The imprisonment of large numbers of US citizens for non violent drug offenses in the so-called 'war on drugs'
  • Subsidies to oil companies, mining companies, and others who through negligence cause the deaths of thousands of humans and other creatures on a regular basis
  • 'Faith based' 'pray away the gay' therapy paid for with Medicaid funding that has been shown to actually be harmful to participants.

I agree with O'Danu on most of this and that is my personal opinion. If you don't agree, that's fine. But I thought the points O'Danu made throughout the whole article on how women (especially poor women) are treated when it comes to our healthcare were interesting. You can go here to read the whole article on the Technorati website.




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