The Des Moines Register‘s editorial yesterday entitled “Anti-choice lawmakers defund UnityPoint, limits women’s health options” probably would not have been written any differently if a Planned Parenthood PR staffers wrote the article themselves.
Some Iowa lawmakers have a creepy obsession with women’s reproductive choices. Elected officials craft misguided laws to target abortion that result in limiting access to health care. And they never seem to learn anything from their mistakes.
In the latest example, UnityPoint Health, one of Iowa’s biggest health systems, says the state is barring its hospitals and clinics from participating in a new family planning program because a few occasionally perform abortions in cases of severe fetal abnormalities. The state says the ban applies to all clinics and practices affiliated with UnityPoint, even those not owned by the health system.
This is the direct result of a Republican-controlled Legislature launching a full-fledged assault on Planned Parenthood last session.
Being pro-life is not about a “creepy obsession” with “women’s reproductive choices.”
It is about promoting a culture of life. If this were not about the taking of innocent human life, then it wouldn’t be an issue at all. This statement by the Register’s editorial board paints pro-life legislators as some perverts who involve themselves with women’s sexual health.
That’s simply not the case. These legislators care about innocent life, and they don’t believe taxpayer money should go to organizations that take innocent human life. The adage “I’ll stay out of your bedroom if you stay out of my wallet” applies.
Also, they are pro-life, not “anti-choice.” Pro-life advocates do believe in choice. They just don’t support the idea that killing an innocent child should be a choice.
If they want the money, stop providing abortions.
If UnityPoint Health wants the money, they can stop providing abortions. Simple as that. If clinics and doctors that are not owned by UnityPoint Health want to participate in the new family planning program, they could unaffiliate themselves.
If they are unwilling to do that, stop complaining. UnityPoint Health is not owed taxpayer money any more than Planned Parenthood is.
UnityPoint Health is not being defunded.
Here is an excerpt from a story that Tony Leys wrote about UnityPoint Health.
One of Iowa’s biggest health systems contends the state is improperly barring all of its hospitals and clinics from participating in a new family planning program because a few of them occasionally perform abortions.
UnityPoint Health says many of its hospitals and clinics do not offer abortions, and it contends they should be allowed to offer publicly financed birth-control services to moderate-income Iowans.
Being barred from participating in a NEW family planning program is not defunding them.
Pre-born babies with “severe fetal abnormalities” deserve a chance to live.
Pro-life advocates reject the “quality of life” argument made by pro-abortion supporters. Every life is unique. Every life has value. The notion that a baby who may be disabled or deformed should be aborted communicates the deadly idea that some lives are not worth living. Abortion is being used to attempt to eradicate the imperfect. All one has to do is look at how pre-born children who are deemed likely to have Downs Syndrome are targeted and destroyed.
Why is it that some people think it is kinder to kill someone before they are born instead of living with a disease or disability? Also, what about the suffering caused by abortion? Not only does the pre-born child suffer, but in many cases, the parents carry the guilt of that decision with them especially if that pre-born baby aborted doesn’t look so “imperfect” after all.
I do not doubt how difficult it is for parents who face that decision, but abortion should not be the answer. No other field of medicine has the view that you cure the disease by killing the patient. The same should be true for the unborn.
Conclusion:
The Des Moines Register calls laws like the one that passed last year “controversial,” when it isn’t controversial at all. The vast majority of people do not believe taxpayers should fund abortion or organizations that provide abortion. In regards to UnityPoint Health, there probably could be a waiver that could be agreed upon next legislative session for non-UnityPoint Health owned, but affiliated doctors and clinics. Let’s not pretend Democrats in the Iowa House and Senate wanted to work with Republicans on this bill. They don’t, and they didn’t. They hold to the extreme position that elective abortion should not only be allowed but paid for by Iowa’s taxpayers. A view shared by The Des Moines Register‘s editorial board.