| Spring Break Like school kids wrapping up their last exams before spring break, the Senate yesterday crammed a whole lot of work into one day. In a marathon voting session, it passed a budget -- albeit narrowly – voting on some two dozen amendments along the way. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A44042-2005Mar17.html There was good news on the Medicaid front -- all cuts restored and a big raspberry sent to the president. Gives one hope that reason will prevail at least every so often in Congress this session. One vote that didn’t seem to have rhyme nor reason was the Senate’s rejection of the Reid/Clinton prevention amendment. Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) and Hillary Clinton (D-NY) offered an amendment that would have provided $100 million for prevention programs, including family planning and real sex education. http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/lv-gov/2005/mar/17/518466038.html Unfortunately, the amendment was defeated in a 53-47 vote that broke mostly along party lines, with three Republicans and one Democrat breaking ranks. http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=domesticNews&storyID=7937865 For all the harrumphing about the abortion rate being too high and the necessity to decrease the need for abortion, many anti-choice senators showed their true colors on this vote. Having never met an abortion restriction that they didn’t like, anti-choice senators gave prevention the cold shoulder. They had an opportunity here to do something productive by voting for measures with proven track records in reducing unintended pregnancy. Harassing women who are already pregnant through government-mandated lectures, waiting periods, and abortion-method bans does not reduce the need for abortion. Giving teens misinformation about their health and how to prevent disease and pregnancy does not reduce the need for abortion. All the editorializing and platitudes a given senator can muster does not reduce the need for abortion. That need is mitigated through family planning services and education. There’s a great line in the movie Bull Durham that may apply here: “Sometimes you win. Sometimes you lose. Sometimes, it rains.” Let’s hope this vote was just a little cloud burst -- and we get the win in a make-up game later. SaveRoe.com blog@saveroe.com |