“None of the bills emerging from the House and Senate require insurers to cover all the elements of a standard gynecological “well visit,” leaving essential care such as pelvic exams, domestic violence screening, counseling about sexually transmitted diseases, and, perhaps most startlingly, the provision of birth control off the list of basic benefits all insurers must cover. Nor are these services protected from “cost sharing,” which means that, depending on what’s in the bill that emerges from the Senate, and, later, the contents of a final bill, women could wind up having to pay for some of these services out of their own pockets. So far, mammograms and Pap tests are covered in every version of the legislation.” http://www.thenation.com/doc/20091116/lerner

For many women, and under many existing insurance packages, the OB/GYN or equivalent IS the primary care provider for women. You can’t have a pap smear without a pelvic exam…so covering the test doesn’t provide any help. It’s like covering dental X-rays without covering dental visits or cleanings. You don’t have tests if you aren’t in the office. It set the bar to women’s health so high that many more women may disappear from the healthcare system until in need of emergency care… much of which care they won’t get if Stupak stands.

That’s what the problem is. The problem is that women, while being more than the sum of their parts are being treated here as less.

I’ve been doing this a loooong time, Rebecca. And I hate the damn internet, because you used to be able to get those off the cuff remarks kept to a minimum, and now one moment of stupid is the lead story forever. Sux.

We knew from the outset that we weren’t going to get what the nation needs – single-payer-universal health coverage. But we got a vote – an actual vote – in the House this time and we’re going to get to a bill for the President to sign into law.

It has taken sixty years to build the monster that is American health care. We’re not going to drive a stake through its heart in one year.

This is a first step. But, like the saying goes, every journey begins with one step. I don’t understand the “if we can’t have everything we’ll settle for nothing” mentality.

And how in the heck did you get from that to Stupak? Trust me, I am no happier about that than you are. Maybe at the next Drinking Liberally I’ll tell you the story of how something idiotic like this could have profoundly affected my life recently.

*shakes head*

As an aside, although, as I’ve said, I find this whole topic distasteful, I think it needs to be exposed. It is a good thing for the progressive movement (and for women) that people be shown how conservatives view women and women’s rights.

But to the point, I don’t apologize for my original comment. My words were carefully chosen for several reasons. My qualifier was inserted because I found what I had to write to be distasteful, but necessary. Since there has been a good bit of discussion and several threads about the conservative view towards women, I have to think that this is not a radical idea. Your problem seems to be largely with use of the word “hot”.

I used it because it felt like the kind of word the type of conservative I was refering to would use. I remember seeing bumper stickers last year about Alaska saying something like “Coldest state, hottest Governor”. I’m a bit insulted and confused as to why you seem to be equating it to “fag” and “colored”. Maybe the word just insults you. If so, I’m sorry that you are insulted. That was not my intention.

The question is, does the Left?