Anyone who reads this blog knows that I am biased towards Pro-Choice. So I am asking Pro-Life people to bear with me when I explain how they can help more couples “Choose Life” to use their saying.
Right now our healthcare system is grossly tilted against any couple that wishes to “Choose Life” and I will use a possibly fictitious example of how.
Let’s imagine a couple has been happily married for several years, have a descent life, live in a small apartment, have a 5-year old car, and the husband has a job that pays $30,000 a year.
Making $30,000 a year it would be stupid for them to buy health insurance for $250 a month when if they had a major health problem and had to have surgery the very most they could lose in court would be to have 15% their net income above the poverty line taken or $131 a month. They decide paying $250 a month to protect $131 a month is a fools wager.
This couple favorite activity is to go for walks in the local parks, their favorite park is a beautiful nature research center that is almost unknown to the public, and they know the times that it is practically deserted.
One gorgeous spring day they go for their walk at a time when no one is in the park. They walk a mile into the woods and get a little high on the oxygen given off by the blooming plants, the scents of the new flowers and the shear beauty of nature.
The wife decides that only one thing could make this day more perfect, she leans up against a tree and steps out of one leg of her pants and smiles at her husband. Neither one of them was expecting this so they didn’t bring along a condom, but the shear beauty of the day and the chance to make a loving memory that they will never forget overtakes all other thoughts and they make love.
Flash forward a month and the wife has noticed that her period hasn’t come. They buy a pregnancy testing kit even though she already knows the result.
Now this loving couple has a choice to make, if they decide to have a baby they are too responsible to let it happen without proper medical treatment. Their income is too high for social services to help and health insurance doesn’t cover pre-existing conditions like pregnancy.
They know that the $17,000 to $25,000 cost of childbirth is something that will drive them into bankruptcy. So the cost of childbirth means their credit will be ruined and they will have to take on the additional expense of a child at the same time as they have their income reduced.
The lower standard of living is something they could take for themselves but the idea raising a child while their finances are knocked for a loop leaving their lives unstable is something they can’t bear.
The other choice is to pay $600 and get their old life back.
As far as “Choosing Life” goes the scales are greatly tilted against that choice. The current healthcare system in this country makes a mockery out of the idea of giving couples a choice.
If the healthcare bill passes this couple will be looking at completely different options.
If that happened after the healthcare bill kicked in here is the choice they would face.
The couple would have government-subsidized insurance that they could upgrade to cover the additional expense of pregnancy. They might have to pay a few more dollars a month to get the optimal pregnancy plan so their out of pocket expenses would be $463 to $523. The cost of an abortion isn’t covered under the healthcare bill so that would remain at $600 or more.
Under the healthcare bill this couple will be able to “Choose Life” or not. Under the current healthcare system this choice is made for them, and it is not pro-life.
If you are truly against abortion the choice is obvious you should support the healthcare bill in congress and urge Congress to take up an amendment to force the insurance companies to have the insurance plans that get federal subsidies to make the cost of Childbirth at or lower to the cost of an abortion. Then when you talk about choosing life, you will be talking about a real choice, not one stacked in the favor of abortion.
So to all the people that say “Choose Life” and are against the healthcare bill that will make this a real option I say, “Shut-up Stupid, you are working to defeat your own goals.”
