Fortuitous Encounters

I know, I’ve sucked.

I know I haven’t written in forever, but as all the other cheesy New Year’s Resolutions:

I’m back.

My biggest motivator to keep writing: Rachel.

Rachel was the girl who let me shadow her abortion way back in October. I saw her at the mall with some friends. We were at the same store and both needed customer service. The moment her eyes and mine locked, I instantly knew who she was and she gave me a small, recognizing smile.

“I’m with my friends”, her smile read. “Our connection is a secret. Please don’t make me explain.”

After that moment, we didn’t make eye contact again.

I did try and sneak a peek of her and her friends. Rachel seemed happy and like any other twenty-something college student.  She was taking selfies with her friends and trying to set up her Facebook account on her new computer. I couldn’t help but wonder what her life would have been like, had she not had her abortion. Would she have been the same person that I ran into at the mall?  Would she be at a store, with her friends, trying to dedice which model laptop to buy for the new school year?

She’s probably thought about it too.

Seeing Rachel was the catalyst to get me back to writing, but our legislators are doing a great job in providing me material to write about.

In the state of Michigan, Legislature recently passed a bill that would ban abortion coverage under any insurance plan. You would need to buy a separate, add-on plan or rider to your insurance package, in order to cover said procedures.

I had the opportunity to actually have a debate with one of Michigan’s Right to Life’s big dogs. Right to Life is a Michigan based “pro-life” lobbyist group. It is probably one of the biggest and most organized groups of this nature in the country.

According to said big dog, and the community Right to Life says they represent, tax-payers are no longer willing to pay for other people’s (read: women’s) abortions if they are covered under tax-supported, government sponsored health insurance programs, nor are citizens when they pay for their premiums for their private insurance.

The solution? Ban the allowance of abortion coverage. No type of insurance, public or private, can choose to cover abortions.
*In Michigan, they were able to add on a life endangerment for the mother clause, but this is not true for all states with similar legislation.* 

The outcome? It passed in both houses of Legislature.

But wait,

The plot thickens.

These guys aren’t amateurs. These guys have been “fighting the good fight” from the dawn of Roe v Wade. They know what they’re doing, and they have the power to boot.

In 2012, a similar bill was approved by Michigan Legislature but vetoed by Governor Snyder (R).  If we watch House of Cards (or the much inferior Scandal) What is politics if not loop-holes? Right to Life was able to dust off the good ol’ law books and found a caveat, a “Citizen’s Initiative”. This loop-hole allows for a second voting on a vetoed measure if 300,000 signatures or more are collected.  Just to give you an idea, there are 7,454,553 registered voters in the state of Michigan. Calculator, anyone?

Once passed by Legislature, said measure is veto-proof. The governor has no say in its approval or overturn. It will go into effect 90 days after its passing. In Michigan’s case: March 2014.

Long live democracy.

Michigan is not the first state to have these limitations on abortion. Because don’t be confused. This is not an abortion opt-out for insurance companies. This is a ban on free enterprise. Similar legislation has gone into effect in: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia… The list goes on. Want to check out your state? Take a look at this Guttmacher newsletter.

One of the biggest questions I had to said big dog while we were having our debate was if he truly believed that women should pay more for their health insurance solely based on the fact that they are women.

His blunt answer: Yes.

This type of legislation has received a nickname: rape insurance. If this law comes into effect, parents will now need to consider if this is something they want to include in there daughter’s health insurance coverage, as do young women who provide for themselves and husbands who have their wives under their insurance coverage.

The  best part?

The law does not provide for this type of insurance to actually be available. Only two of the 8 states that have similar legislations have actually provided said riders. In a market of supply and demand, where you are selling a taboo rider, the expected demand is not estimated to be very high, making its existence unlikely.

So girls, keep a piggy bank. You never know when you’ll need to shell out $400-$10,000* for an abortion, be it you were rape or the conception was a product of incest. Even if you pay $160 a month for health insurance, like I do.
*Abortions in a Planned Parenthood institution can range around $400, depending on gestation and the type of procedure that you have. Hospital based abortions can run up to $10,000*

When did we get so bold that we actually thought we had a right to decide on the type of healthcare our peers could receive? As a female, I pay for my male peers to have their healthcare benefits, none of which I will ever require or benefit from as a female, yet I don’t seem to get a discount for that. Or is it that we should have a male and female healthcare plan? How about if someone rapes a woman, and she does not have rape insurance and wishes to have an abortion. Do you think Blue Cross/Blue Shield will let her make against her assailant’s insurance?

The hypothetical example I left Mr. Big Dog:

“I don’t believe in vaccination and believe it is a threat to our society and even immoral to provide our children with life-threatening bacteria. We must ban vaccination coverage by any type of insurance. There’s tons of scientific evidence to support it. Would you support me in my quest for the protection of living, thinking, breathing children?” His answer: If enough people feel strongly about it, I would.

My answer: Bring on the polio.

-N