To Life, by Martha Thomases – Brilliant Disguise | @MDWorld

October 20, 2012 Martha Thomases 24 Comments

In last week’s column, the discussion veered away from my subject, Malala Yousafzai (who is reportedly doing well,so, yay!) and onto abortion and reproductive rights.

This is what happens in conversation.  I accept that.  I also accept that my views on abortion may not be your views.  The experiences you have had in your life may have led you to different conclusions.  This is the human condition.

For the purposes of this discussion, I’m not going to challenge anyone’s right to hold whatever opinion they hold.  I would hope that you, Constant Reader, will offer me the same courtesy.  You may oppose safe and legal access to abortion.  That’s your privilege as an American.

I support it.  That, too, is my privilege as an American.

Here’s the part I don’t understand.  Many people who oppose reproductive rights are single-issue voters.  They ignore whatever else a candidate or a political party might advocate because they are “pro-life.”  And yet, the political party they support, the Republican Party, is opposed to the Affordable Care Act (popularly called Obamacare).

This is on my mind because of a moving series of stories written by Nicholas Kristof for The New York Times.  He wrote about his college friend, Scott, who was diagnosed with cancer at a time when he could not afford health insurance.  I can relate, since I live in an area where a person who is unemployed, who needs to buy a policy as a single person (or family) can easily pay more than $100,000 a year.  Even for a single person (not a family), the cost exceeds the median national family income.

Scott’s medical bills exceeded half a million dollars.  As Kristof says, “Researchers have estimated that one American dies every 20 minutes for lack of health insurance.”

The Affordable Care Act will save lives.  The lives it will save are those of people who are already born, people that both pro- and anti-choice voters can agree are human life.  It seems to me that this is an area where we could achieve some kind of consensus.

Is the law perfect?  No, and I imagine we will disagree about what is wrong with it.  Speaking for myself, I would prefer a single-payer system, because the AFA keeps in place — in fact, benefits –our wasteful and expensive insurance industry.  Anti-choice people may object to the “choice” parts.  Again, it is not my intention here to argue these specific points.

Instead, I suggest that a person who is truly pro-life would vote for the Democrats.  Their policies may not be precisely what you believe (they certainly aren’t precisely what I believe), but, as near as I can tell, their policies benefit more lives.

Kristoff’s friend, Scott, died after he wrote his first piece on Sunday.  Between the publication of the first piece and the publication of the piece to which I link, Kristof, received thousands of e-mails, many of which claimed that Scott deserved to die.

So much for the sanctity of life.

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Martha Thomases, Media Goddess, is in Rhinebeck today, enjoying the leaves and the yarn.