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The Story of the Good Samaritan Offers An Important Lesson on the 37th Anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Decision

Statement of Reverend Dr. Carlton W. Veazey, President and CEO, Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice

January 20, 2010

On the 37th anniversary of the historic Roe v. Wade decision (January 22), which has saved the lives and health of an untold number of women estimated in the tens of thousands, the biblical story of the Good Samaritan offers a lesson. The story teaches us that we have a responsibility to care for everyone. A person in need should not be left to suffer. Yet that is what happened with coverage for abortion in health care reform legislation. Whether or not the legislation moves forward in light of the election of Republican Scott Brown in Massachusetts to the Senate seat formerly held by Democrat Edward Kennedy, it is troubling that Congress was willing to bargain away coverage of abortion services in exchange for the votes to pass a bill.

It is wrong to use abortion as a bargaining chip. It is wrong to sacrifice women's rights and health for any reason.

The bills of both the House of Representatives and the Senate are troubling in the way they address the most vulnerable among us.

We are concerned that the House provision denying coverage for abortion services in plans marketed through the new exchanges could cause desperate or poor women to resort to unsafe measures and to take personal medical risk. Women who have coverage for abortion under existing private insurance could suffer a similar fate if their insurer participated in a government-funded plan.

The Senate provision is unworkable: it requires everyone covered by a plan that has any connection to government funding to write two separate checks, one for abortion services and a separate one for everything else covered by the plan.

Any national health plan that does not include the full range of family planning services that promote reproductive health and freedom fails to address women's health needs throughout all stages of life. It would reinforce our two-tier health system - one for everyone but the poor and a less comprehensive one for the poor. It would be most harmful to low-income women (many of whom are women of color), because the cycle of poverty often revolves around unintended and unwanted pregnancy.

On this Roe v. Wade anniversary, let us remember that lives have been saved by access to safe, legal health care services. In the name of social and economic justice, join me in calling on Congress to include coverage for comprehensive reproductive health care in reform legislation - both family planning services to reduce unintended pregnancy and abortion for women who make that choice.