I hate that health care reform opponents base much of their argument, not just on "socialism" but on government paying for abortion, and how they don't want their tax dollars going to fund abortion of any kind. Aside from the literally unanswerable question of how our tax dollars are divided and fund the government, no one seemed to protest town hall meetings by brining guns and threatening congress people and all that crazy stuff that has been going on recently.  But one of the major reasons cited by opponents of Health Reform is a belief that the federal government will fund abortions for women. Recently I was participating in another on-line discussion about health reform, and no matter how logical the facts of health reform might be; in the end all Health Reform Opponents bring their opposition to reform back to the abortion debate. Oh no they write, we shouldn't be forced to fun abortion. It is wrong and abortion should be outlawed. The abortion debate is debate that never has a winner. The abortion debate though allows there to be an obfuscation of the real debate going on about Health Reform.

There is no winnable argument based on analysis that protects Health Insurance giants. If an individual is implying or outright saying that insurance companies must be able to keep their profits and possibly make more, squander premiums, make bad investments, that individual is dismissed out of hand as either an employee of one of those Health Insurance companies, or as being someone with below average intellect and easily swayed by the likes of Hannity and Limbaugh.

So I ask is the abortion debate ever a winnable debate. People are quite entrenched in each side. In the 1980's I escorted women into Planned Parenthood clinic, when the likes of Operation Rescue and the many offshoots of that organization harassed women, nurses, and physician on a daily basis. I was young at the time and had a young child, he was one year old. I'd pack him up in my baby backpack take him with me, we'd escort women in together. Taking him with me tended to shut all except the most ideological clown (always men). Most people did not want to scare a small child. Yes even at 25, I seethed with disgust for those people.

Conservatives use many excuses as to why pregnant women should not have the right to decide what to do with their bodies. I would say the reason for the abortion really does not matter. There is always someone out there who knows someone who knows someone who knows someone who just has abortions as birth control, and of course to anyone normal that sounds terrible, not normal, and of course this extreme example always leads me to wonder if it is true in very many cases, and yet, even if it is true, no matter how ugly it sounds, it is not my business to either pass judgment or oppose her right to have "dominion" over her own body.

There is something too Old Testament about people who believe women ultimately should not control their bodies when it comes to bearing a child. People who believe in these restrictions I would say have no respect for women. People moralize about abortion, it is wrong, although it is right to harass women seeking care at Planned Parenthood, it is immoral, yet they kill physicians and bomb clinics in the name of "God". However, isn't the truth really, that even if "God" does see this act as immoral, (although I would presume "God" is no micromanager and does not judge") that other people still have no business telling someone else what to do with their body. Law isn't necessarily about "religious morality" (yikes is that an oxy-moron), no matter what the overly religious might believe.

So in conclusion, my answer to all the pro-life folk out there, SERIOUSLY, YOU CAN BE PRO-LIFE IF YOU WANT I HAVE NO ARGUMENT WITH THAT, HOWEVER, YOU DO NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO TELL OTHER PEOPLE WHAT TO DO WITH THEIR BODIES, AND IF THIS IS YOUR EXCUSE FOR STOPPING HEALTH REFORM AND A VIABLE PUBLIC INSURANCE OPTION, THEN YOU ARE A MISERABLE EXCUSE OF A HUMAN BEING, I SUGGEST YOU GET A CONSCIENCE, THIS IS A MEASURE OF YOUR CHARACTER AND YOU HAVE FAILED MISERABLY.