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The Project Life Act is inconsiderate toward women

The Protect Life Act reeks of gendercide, plain and simple.

Call me radical, call me overly liberal or call me crazy, but there is no way around the issue here. Allowing a woman and her child to die an avoidable death in a hospital is a violation of human rights, and it is primitive, to say the least.

Gendercide is a very real problem that is growing at an alarming rate all over the world. The death of girls due to neglect, abuse and selective abortions are climbing in many countries like China and India. In the United States, we aren’t seeing anything like this. And we shouldn’t ever, as a developed country that tends to set an example for the rest of the world.

Women’s healthcare has been a hot button this year, with debates over eliminating co-pays for birth control taking a front seat over the summer. Now, the House of Representatives has passed something called the Protect Life Act.

This act would prevent federal funding from going toward abortions. While I agree with this somewhat, it is the clause concerning life or death situations that makes me nervous.

Essentially, should a woman be in the heartbreaking situation where she will not only lose her child, but also die during the birthing process, neither life will be saved unless she pays out of pocket. That is a pretty simplified explanation, but you get the idea.

I find this unacceptable. My own opinions on abortion aside, no one should be denied life saving measures because of someone else’s values.

How easy it must be for a congressman receiving lots of cushy funding from pro-life organizations to pass a law that will never directly affect his body. It must be nice to be able to tell other people what to do, knowing you’ll never have to make the nearly impossible decision of getting an abortion versus keeping a baby that you are not ready for, or that will ultimately result in two deaths.  I may not pay the same taxes as a Washington good ole boy conservative, but I sure do have a bigger stake in the issue than they do.

This is a call to Senate to kill this bill. They are expected to do so, but I hope they not only send it to the embarrassments of history book, they do so for good.

I’m not really into the Occupy Wall Street movement, but I can tell you this much: if the so-called Protect Life Act passes, I’ll be the first person out on University and Main Streets, protesting my government that is essentially okaying sexism and abandoning the safety of women.

Our country should be a beacon of progress to the world. Passing a bill like this takes us back a giant leap. So for the world’s sake, for women’s sake and for this country’s sake, the Senate must let that bill die on the floor.

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