We can't afford to lose our insurance coverage. Fight Stupak!

When I had my abortion, it was covered by my insurance. My current insurance plan, which is different since I work somewhere else now, also covers abortion should I need it. The bureaucracy was a nightmare, but in the end everything worked out ok and it was covered.

If the Stupak Amendment is included in the health care reform bill, I will not have that coverage again. Hopefully I will never need it, but they wouldn't call them "unplanned pregnancies" if we were expecting it to happen. Countless women will lose their abortion coverage, or be prevented from purchasing a plan that covers it in the future. If you don't know much about the Stupak Amendment yet, google it and learn more about it. This is important. And what we do now will determine whether this becomes law or ends up in the trash where it belongs.

Abortion is not the kind of procedure you can save up for- it needs to be done right away. Due to the deep stigma in our society surrounding abortion, this is not the kind of thing many women would be able to ask family or friends to chip in for. This is a procedure that needs to be covered by health insurance. Anti-Choice activists are always looking for ways they can create barriers to care that limit women's access to reproductive health services they think we shouldn't have. The Stupak Amendment would be like plopping down a huge wall around the clinics where we need to go to for care- some will be able to climb it, but many more won't. The burden's of these barriers fall most heavily on those who already don't have much: women living in poverty, the uninsured, homeless women, etc. While some women can pay out of pocket for abortion, many cannot. No woman should be forced to bear a child simply because she is poor. Everyone deserves choice regardless of the amount in their bank account. Healthcare reform should fix that problem, not exacerbate it.

Please get involved. Defend yourself. Protect the people you love, and the countless women who need your voice now.