As NPR reported this morning, within all of the excitement around possible health care reform, there is one issue mucking everything up: abortion (of course).Basically, some folks feel that the health care reform legislation should not include any funding for abortion. I'm fully aware that there are many people in this country who are opposed to abortion. However, the fact remains that as of right now, abortion is not only a legal medical procedure but a necessary medical procedure and as such, it should be covered. We've spent so much time in the past few years talking about how tragic it is that health insurance companies pick and choose what they want to cover and now our legislators are insisting that they have the same right.The logic behind this (either that people have a right to follow their conscience or that taxpayers should not have to contribute) is specious. If taxpayers do not want to pay for abortions, do they also not want to pay for the roads people drive on to get those abortions? Would they like to contribute more of their earnings to help women forced to carry their children to term to pay for those children once they are born? Some of my taxpayer money goes to food stamps for others - do I then get to dictate what people buy with those food stamps? No. When we pay our taxes, we don't get to choose what the dollars are used for.Abortion is one of the (if not the most) common surgical procedures performed in this country. Not only could this health care reform keep poor women from receiving coverage, it could actually remove coverage from private plans that currently cover it.

On Monday, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, the only one of five congressional committees overseeing the health effort that is actually drafting its bill, debated a half dozen abortion-related amendments. It defeated most on identical 12-11 votes, including one that would have barred people who get government insurance subsidies from buying private insurance plans that include abortion coverage.

I have no illusions about Congress' ability to pass legislation that is pro-choice; it's practically non-existent. Even anti-choice health care reform will help millions of people live healthier, happier lives. Thus, we have to ask ourselves, when and how much do we fight? How can we frame this to help people understand why this is so important without ruining our chances for the affordable, accessible care that we've needed for so long. I don't have answers but I'll keep looking for them.