Ultrasound Bill Vetoed by Crist…Thank God.
On Friday, Florida Governor Charlie Crist vetoed a bill that would have required a woman to have an ultrasound before going ahead with an abortion.
I don’t think the question here is whether it would change the minds of women to get an abortion. The question is of the constitutionally of such a bill. Though Roe v Wade made it legal to get an abortion, getting access to funds for an abortion is a completely different matter. The 1976 Hyde Amendment made it illegal to allocate funds for abortions through Medicaid, which subsequently bled into most other federally provided health care programs. Abortions cost anywhere from $300 to $900 in the first trimester, and for low-income women, that can be hard money to pull together. Right now, abortion care can be obtained through private health insurance, however, under President Obama’s new health care plan, abortion was used as a bargaining chip and subsequently forfeited.
But abortion is part of women’s health care. If current rates continue, it is estimated that 35 percent of all women of reproductive age in America today will have had an abortion by the time they reach the age of 45.
The rate of children living in poverty this year will climb to nearly 22%, the highest rate in two decades, according to an analysis by the non-profit Foundation for Child Development. Nearly 17 percent of children were living in poverty in 2006 before the recession began. What about those children? It occurs to me that we should be doing something to increase the quality of life for the children already here.
In explaining his veto, Crist said that while there are many medical and financial obstacles that the state could erect to prevent a woman from “following through on her constitutionally protected decision to end pregnancy,” ultimately “such measures do not change hearts, which is the only true and effective way to ensure that a new life coming into the world is loved, cherished, and receives that care that is deserved.”
Crist hit the nail on the head. There is no guarantee that a child will be cared for, however, it’s really the potential mother’s choice to bring a life into the world, not the governments.
Lisa Gillespie is a former staff writer for Campus Progress as well as the Managing Editor & New Media Director at Street Sense. She graduated from the University of North Carolina–Asheville.
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