While this circus played out an actual attack on abortion access made it through. The budget deal undermines Washington DC autonomy, and more importantly hurts poor folks, imposing a ban on the use of local funds to help pay for abortion in the District. These funds would be used for low income people who are also predominantly people of color. I was incredibly moved to see Mayor Vince Gray and other politicians stand up for the District and get arrested in the face of this shameful attack.
The way this fight transpired is eerily similar to the battle for health care reform, where abortion was used as a wedge to distract everyone while the bill was weakened, while we lost any chance at the public option. Pro-choice organizations played along then, doing exactly what opponents of health care reform wanted, letting all the focus shift to one divisive, emotional issue. And they’ve done exactly the same thing again, playing right into the hands of politicians and interest groups who want to distract us from what’s really going on at the federal level.
We got played. Again.
No comments:
Post a Comment