Pro-Life Healthcare

I came across an excellent essay on Busted Halo, written by a young mother dealing with the healthcare system in Texas during her pregnancy. I’m more accustomed to arguing from  principles and statistics, but the human story really is more powerful. This is a young woman who wanted to be a stay-and-home mother, and so relied on her husband’s single income. His employer-based health insurance turned out to be extremely expensive, and would have eaten a third of their income. So they shopped around for cheaper alternatives on the individual market, and found one…or so they thought. For among other things, this plan did not cover maternity care — prenatal care, prenatal lab tests, labor and delivery, or postpartum care. The woman was on her own, swimming in a sea of sharks.

What does pregnancy cost? Perhaps in the range of $20,000? This woman said it cost the same as a new car. What does an abortion cost? Something like $450. What kind of society would ever want to present women with these kinds of “choices”?

Today, pregnancy is considered a pre-existing condition, and the individual market won’t touch it. The Affordable Care Act will make two key changes. First, there will be no more discrimination based on pre-existing conditions. Second, the basic package on the individual exchanges will cover maternity care. This is pro-life reform. This is pro-family reform. It would be nice to hear the people who claim to cherish these things to acknowledge that every now and again.