On Thursday, October 13th the House of Representatives passed the bill HR 358, the “Protect Life Act.” The bill is an attempt to alter the current law, which legally compels hospitals to provide emergency care to anyone in need, regardless of his or her ability to pay. However, in an attempt to divorce abortion procedures from federal funds, the bill would allow federally-funded hospitals (those that received support from Medicare and Medicaid) to deny life-saving procedures to women in need of emergency abortion, a measure which Nancy Pelosi argued would let women “die on the floor.” Pelosi was one of several outspoken opponents to the bill.
Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) shared her own story:
“I was pregnant, I was miscarrying, I was bleeding. . . If I had to go from one hospital to the next trying to find one emergency room that would take me in, who knows if I would even be here today. What my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are trying to do is misogynist.”
The bill, received and read by the Senate on Monday October 17th, is unlikely to pass. The White House has also issued an official statement saying that should the bill reach the Oval Office, Obama will veto it because “the legislation intrudes on women’s reproductive freedom and access to health care.”
The issue has been covered, among many other news vendors, by the International Business Times, The Huffington Post and Politico.
-by Kalie Caetano, Web Correspondent, Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota Action Fund