Defunding abortion may have wide repercussions

The U.S. House of Representative’s move to strip federal funding from any program related in any way to abortion could have wide-reaching consequences.

Colorado Rep. Diana DeGette was the leader of House Democrats working to stop this bill. In the end, of course, the Republican majority was simply too strong.

According to Ruth Marcus, writing in The Washington Post, the Pence amendment would cost the country far more than it saves by denying medical care to millions of economically challenged people.

From her column:

House Republicans voted to increase the number of abortions, raise federal health-care costs and swell the welfare rolls.

That wasn’t their intent, of course, and certainly not their stated policy. But it is the predictable and inevitable impact of their twin moves to eliminate funding for the federal family planning program and strip Planned Parenthood of all federal money.

If anything, this assessment is understated. The sharper, and still accurate version, would be that Republicans voted to let more women die from breast cancer, cervical cancer and AIDS. How’s that? The family planning programs also provide cancer screening and HIV counseling to millions of low-income and uninsured people. […]

But abortions represent 3 percent of the services Planned Parenthood provides; contraception accounts for 35 percent; testing for sexually transmitted diseases, 34 percent; cancer screening and prevention, 17 percent.

In the end, though, you might as well have a good laugh. For that, we bring you Jon Stewart from Tuesday night’s The Daily Show, where he wildly skewers House Republicans, while slyly suggesting they just haven’t gone far enough yet.