How Do You Pass a Budget? Strike Down Abortion Funding.

As I'm sure you all know, Congress has been having some troubles passing a 2011 budget, going through many stop-gap measures to prevent a shutdown. The last of these was on April 8, and it went to just about the very last minute. What you all may not know is that last year DC enacted Medicaid funding for elective abortion (yay!). In its infinite wisdom, Congress decided it was within its purview and necessary to stop that Medicaid funding with the passage of the last stop gap measure to prevent the government shut down as well as making it permanent in the 2011 budget this past week.

A few questions come to mind. Why do you need to play with the budget like that, tacking on extra measures? Why do you need to play with women's lives like that? Low income women deserve to exercise their right to safe, legal, abortion like rich, middle class, and women with insurance coverage do? And exactly how is it in your purview to change DC law - passed by officials ELECTED BY THE PEOPLE OF DC?

It's an abomination that Congress thinks it's ok to rip away funding people rely on. I understand that we have a deficit, and that the debt ceiling continues to rise. What I don't understand is why taking programs to help the most disenfranchised, vulnerable citizens of this country is a good way to reduce the deficit. Perhaps we should take away tax loopholes that enable giant companies to avoid paying as much in taxes as possible. Punishing poor people is not the answer.

As someone with friends in DC and has lived in DC, it pisses me off that Congress gets to yay/nay decisions made by the DC city council and mayor. DC residents have no voting member in Congress or the Senate, yet Congress and the Senate get to make decisions on how DC's local tax dollars are spent. How ridiculous is that? DC residents need to get angry, get active, and get involved in the campaign to gain DC voting rights. It also wouldn't hurt for all of us with voting members of Congress and the Senate to write a letter/make a phone call/send an e-mail and tell our representatives how taxation without representation goes against what we claim to be about in this country.

I guess this means that helping low income women access reproductive health care falls back to the hands of volunteers. As we've mentioned before, the National Network of Abortion Funds is having a kick ass bowl-a-thon as a great way to energize the masses to donate to their favorite local abortion fund. I implore you, dear readers, to donate. Please help do the work that Congress is unwilling to do. Tell John Boehner that you won't let his uncaring, narrow minded views affect women having access to safe, legal abortion care.