Amazingly enough, the social and political climate around abortion in the US may be worse right now than it was before the Roe decision in 1973. Why would I say such a thing in 2008, when abortion is "legal"? Because the American anti-abortion movement has been successful, perhaps beyond their wildest dreams and certainly beyond the nightmares of American women and girls. Their great success has been in altering the national consciousness: introducing new language and definitions, promoting fear and shame — and skillfully exploiting the results of this introduction/promotion culture-wide, across lines of class, race, ethnicity, region, gender and sexual identity...........From a nation in which seventy percent of the citizens supported access to abortion and greeted the Roe decision with relief, the US has become a nation in which more than ninety percent of its counties have no access to abortion services and in many counties that do, those services (and access to contraception!) are compromised, difficult to find and use. The anti-abortion movement in the USA is rare in both its size (big) and impact (bigger); the past thirty-five years of its development and cultural dominance are historically unprecedented...........Those people do not have a lock on the family, on religion, on morality — as might appear to be the case. But they do seem to have a lock on public media – both imagery and language (from Saturday at the movies to the evening news on any screen and a good chunk of cyberspace too), as well as all three branches of the federal government. Their attack on candid and knowledgeable teaching about sexuality, heterosexual intercourse and birth control has had far-reaching effects through government support; in many parts of the US, access to contraception products and information has been targeted and interfered with by these same people...........From the passage of the Hyde amendment in 1976 disallowing use of federal money for abortion services so that no one employed by the federal government can use her medical coverage for abortion — this means postal workers, the military and the peace corps plus millions of other federal workers and everyone receiving federal funding (folks getting social security, welfare, Medicaid, disability support); through passage of state laws mandating parental consent, spousal consent, waiting periods; and the clever, albeit misleading/dishonest crafting of the phrases “partial birth abortion” and “pro-life” — plus the federally supported widespread use of anti-abortion literature and images in schools, legislation and public media; to the recent disastrous Supreme Court decision about medical practice; as well as terrorist violence & assassination [eg, 32 known violent incidents perpetrated in the US and Canada in just the first few months of 2007, including a bomb planted at a clinic in Austin TX on 4/26 that year], the US anti-abortion movement is a success story...........Having Roe "on the books," as law, has not been seriously effective as a safeguard — and may be operating now to create a kind of false security, ironically mocking the nation’s need for reproductive health and justice. In the ongoing struggle, our political action requires intense cultural reinforcement for education and consciousness raising.

Members of Congress, as well as employees of the Executive and Judicial branches of the US federal government, have such good medical insurance that it’s nearly impossible for them to understand (except, perhaps, as the condescending charity-minded rich do when pitying the miserable poor) what “health care” actually is - and means - for ordinary citizens of almost all classes in this country.

Don Sloan, who wrote Practicing Medicine Without A License (Caveat Books) says that the insurance those people get provides them with: unlimited doctor visits of their choice; coverage for all accidents, routine exams, physical therapy, labs and x-rays; unlimited hospital visits and stays; some chronic care and rehab; full prescription coverage; unlimited specialty consultations for them and their families – with no deductibles, no co-pays, and all for nominal fees (like $35 monthly from a salary of $158K) – and of course, they also get a full pension and complete lifelong health coverage.

Even though this is my op-ed page, I'm not going to bother ranting about the deals the Fed must have cut with the US insurance industry to arrange that set-up while ferociously blocking and/or eviscerating even reasonable plans for a national health system. It's not like we don't have models to study and adapt to our needs: Canada, Britain, the always socially responsible Scandinavians, and more. Right now, I'm just going to suggest we get fierce (not to say ugly) about pressuring our elected reps. We need to educate these folks, help them achieve some empathy for our situation -- very, very soon. (Spring, 2008)


.... and do consider this ....

If someone tells you voting for the lesser of two evils is a bad idea, please say that what we want — what we need so very much in our lives — is less evil.