The "Protect Life Act" -- Putting Lives at Risk

Hello, everybody. I'm back. I didn't post this past year because it felt like I was talking to myself, but I feel like my poor friends on Facebook are sick of my continuous rants and comment debates. I suppose I'll try blogging again, and maybe this time I will feel less like a schizophrenic talking to voices only I can hear.

Three days ago, the US House of Representatives passed a bill that prevents federal funding to any health-care plan which pays for their clients' abortions. Let me set the stage by telling everybody that I am pro-choice. While I believe it's wrong and dangerous to use abortion as a primary means of birth control, there are occasions where it is proper. A woman is raped, baby and mother have incompatible blood types, an unborn child is diagnosed with a disease such as Tay-Sachs...these are a few times where I feel abortion may be the best choice.

Recently, however, there has been a slew of bills and proposals to make access to abortions as limited as possible, and not simply on the federal level. In my state, bills have recently been passed which ban organizations such as Planned Parenthood from prescribing the abortion pill. This means that women in rural areas must drive to the nearest large city to have a surgical abortion -- a far more dangerous process.

I feel that this bill places potential mothers in danger. Not all abortions are teenagers who forgot their condoms. Even adults who are trying to start a family may be pushed into a position where the procedure is necessary. If health care plans stop covering abortions in order to keep their federal funding, these women may find themselves unable to afford the expense. As fewer and fewer clinics are legally allowed to provide the easier and cheaper pill alternative, lives will be put at risk.