Incoming Congress Should Enact Legislation To Reduce Abortion Rate, Opinion Piece Says

November 24, 2006 – 1:36 am | posted in Abortion, Women's Health / OBGYN

Although “[t]aking substantial steps to reduce the abortion rate will not settle the larger ethical argument over the practice,” the “election of a new congressional majority” for the 110th Congress should “open the way for a better approach to the abortion question,” Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne writes in a Post opinion piece. The “bitter political brawling” over abortion during the past 30 years has caused an “unproductive stalemate” that has left antiabortion groups “frustrated,” abortion-rights supporters “in a constant state of worry” and U.S. residents “who hold middle-ground positions feeling that there is no one who speaks for them,” Dionne writes. However, “the politics of abortion began to change” in September with the introduction of a bill (HR 6067) sponsored by Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), who opposes abortion rights, and abortion-rights supporter Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) (Dionne, Washington Post, 11/21). The measure would require states to cover contraceptives for women with annual incomes of up to 200% of the federal poverty level, establish grants for sex education programs and require programs with a focus on abstinence to include thorough instruction on contraceptives. The legislation also would increase funding for health care for low-income women with children, provide no-cost visits from nurses to teens and women who have given birth for the first time, expand a tax credit for adoption and fund child care services for parents in college (Kaiser Daily Women’s Health Policy Report, 9/20). There are “moral and practical reasons” for Democrats, Republicans, abortion-rights supporters and abortion-rights opponents to support the bill, Dionne writes. “Why shouldn’t both sides embrace broader steps that, without coercion, could cut the abortion rate by much larger numbers?” Dionne asks, concluding that if Congress acts to curb the abortion rate, “it could show that politicians are capable of living up to their highest calling, which is to seek practical forms of moral seriousness” (Washington Post, 11/21).

ShareThis

Also Read

  • Women’s Health Is ‘More At Risk’ With Partial-Birth Abortion Ban, Opinion Piece Says
  • Letter To Editor Criticizes Recent Wall Street Journal Opinion Piece Addressing SCHIP Legislation
  • Right To ‘Preserve One’s Health’ At Stake In Supreme Court Case Concerning Federal Abortion Ban, Opinion Piece Says
  • Two Newspapers Publish Opinion Pieces On Giuliani’s Abortion Rights Position, Religious Conservative Reaction
  • President Bush Renews Veto Threat Of SCHIP Expansion Legislation
  • Opinion Piece Discusses Provisions Of Prescription Drug User Fee Act Legislation
  • FDA Should Return To ‘Science-Based’ Agency, Opinion Pieces Says
  • Editorial, Opinion Pieces Focus On Medicare, Democratic Agenda
  • Democratic Health Care Agenda Faces Obstacles Next Year
  • Biotechnology, Embryonic Stem Cell Research ‘Here To Stay’ As Political Issues, Opinion Piece Says

    • You must be logged in to post a comment.