Note: Update follows the original post.
Someone tell Sandra Fluke she’s been backing the wrong horse in the supposed “war on women.”
According to an official tweet of remarks made by a Democratic legislator in Washington state, it’s the monstrous health care plan proposed by Pres. Barack Obama and crafted by Democrats that is dealing a devastating blow to a woman’s right to choose abortion, a threat that necessitates protection in the form of new legislation.
From the ‘Whose Side Are You on Anyway’ file, the Washington State House Democratic Caucus (@WAHouseDems) tweeted this remark attributed to state Rep. Eileen Cody (D-West Seattle) speaking in support of the Reproductive Parity Act passed Friday by the House:
That’s worth reading again. “Rep. Cody on RPA: The Affordable Care Act would inadvertently roll back a woman’s freedom to choose…”
Outside of her role as a legislator, Cody is a nurse and has won numerous awards for her legislative work on patient and health care issues – not an uneducated wildcard on these issues. That she might sing out of harmony with the Democratic choir on these issues is less curious than why the communications squad for her caucus would choose to broadcast an apostasy against Pres. Obama’s sole legislative accomplishment.
The Reproductive Parity Act passed by House Democrats that would mandate insurance coverage of a wide range of birth control methods as well as abortion.
(For the record, almost all insurers offering coverage in Washington already cover the items and procedures without a government mandate.)
Shortly after the House passed the measure, Washington State Gov. Jay Inslee issued a statement praising the vote and urging passage in the upper lawmaking body.
“As I begin signing bills next week, I expect the Senate to follow the House’s lead so the RPA can be among those I have the honor of signing into law. The Senate should not shut the door of democracy when it comes to women’s health care,” Inslee said in his official release.
If the door of democracy has been shut, Cody’s remark seems to imply that it was Democrats who did the shutting. Are Democrats in Olympia now focused on prying open doors welded shut by their colleagues in D.C.?
Inslee is scheduled to be in the nation’s capital Friday for high-level meetings with federal officials relating to the materials leak at Hanford. Perhaps he might add one more meeting with U.S. Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell to discuss why their leadership in the U.S. Senate (as well as his own, since he also voted to pass the Affordable Care Act) does not seem to be working out so well for Washingtonians.
Update: 2/22/13 4:18 p.m. – The House Dems saw our post and flew again to Twitter with an enigmatic response:
Oops, I Blogged: From the “Quote Taken Out of Context” file @nwdailymarker analysis completely misses the mark wp.me/p1y4SC-17a
— House Dem Caucus (@WAHouseDems) February 22, 2013
One has to question the wisdom of pointing their 2,516 Twitter followers directly to our post, but their explanation of why our gentle jab “missed the mark” is, itself, off target.
Rep. Cody’s tweeted remark was elegant and simple: “The Affordable Care Act would inadvertently roll back a woman’s freedom to choose.” No complex sentence diagrams needed, and no parsing required to interpret the cause and effect relationship she describes between the Obamacare law and women having less access to abortion procedures.
In fact, their next tweet linked to the announcement of the RPA passage posted on Cody’s website that makes the point again in crystal clear fashion:
Most insurance carriers in Washington already cover both maternity services and abortion services. However, the Affordable Care Act requires extra administrative burdens that may discourage them from continuing coverage for abortion services. This change would interfere with a woman’s ability to make the best decisions for her family and her health.
The Democratic health care law is, for sure, being put forward as a scapegoat to justify what is essentially a political maneuver to get votes without improving anything. Still, it has to be seen as an improvement over prior diversion tactics. They’re not blaming Bush.
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