The Abortion Funding Conundrum

As the accusations and insinuations fly back and forth during the health care debates over Abortion coverage in the health care bill, it seems to me that neither side really understands the thoughts of the American people in this matter. Like many other political agendas, the health care reform has gone from trying to fix a broken system to tearing down the entire system, and rebuilding it with bricks made of various political issues. Who loses? We the people surely will when all is said and done.

Take the abortion issue, for example. As I type this, the U.S. Senate is trying to decide if Abortions should be funded by tax dollars, which include money taken from people who staunchly oppose abortion.

The real goal isn't, as Debbie Stabenow (D-Michigan) stated, "to deny women covered by government-funded health care the right to get an abortion." The real concern here is freedom. Just as a woman is free to get an abortion in this country, whether I like it or not, I should be free to not have to pay for a practice which ends a life.

Before I became pro-life, my favorite pro choice motto was, "If you don't like abortion, don't get one." I hear this same motto over and over again, and yet, with this amendment, we may not be getting an abortion, but we will be paying for the elective abortions of others. In essence, my tax dollars will be paying for the murder of countless children.

The question isn't just about abortion as much as it is about freedom of conscience on both sides. This isn't about restricting access to abortion, but restricting funding from a population where 57% believes abortion is wrong just to end an unwanted pregnancy, to protect their freedom too.