Should Healthcare cover the cost of Abortions?

[Tarheeler]

Fair point although I can see a case for limited or more expensive insurance for late abortions on the grounds that there can be more servere physical and emotional complications.

While I'm generally pro-choice regarding early abortions and abortions where the mothers life is in danger in find the thought of insurance companies competing to provide the cheapest abortions a little unsettling. There is something unpleasant about profit seeking over something which isn't particually pleasant.

I agree with you there.

While I'm staunchly pro-choice, it's a decision my wife and I could never make.

 

[Alceste]

No

I think that wealthy girls/women are probably less likely to have unwanted pregnancies than girls from poor backgrounds due to better access to education and ultimately better prospects in life. This is just a hunch so I'll need to see if there are any relable stats out there which give an indication of how unwanted pregancy rates varies with wealth.

If you switch that to "limited access to other forms of birth control" you might have a point.

 

[Alceste]

Fair point although I can see a case for limited or more expensive insurance for late abortions on the grounds that there can be more servere physical and emotional complications.

While I'm generally pro-choice regarding early abortions and abortions where the mothers life is in danger in find the thought of insurance companies competing to provide the cheapest abortions a little unsettling. There is something unpleasant about profit seeking over something which isn't particually pleasant.

That's the problem I have with the entire private health insurance industry.

 

[Oneatatime]

If you switch that to "limited access to other forms of birth control" you might have a point.

While access to contraception is important education and aspirations can't be ignored.

 

[Alceste]

While access to contraception is important education and aspirations can't be ignored.

I can't see how education is not going to make much of a difference to unplanned pregnancy statistics unless it is education specifically about the undesirable potential consequences of sex and where to obtain the means to avoid them. If it turns out educated, well-off women happen to have fewer abortions, I sincerely doubt it's because they don't have as much sex.

 

[Nerthus]

I am pro choice, but do not agree with healthcare supporting abortions.

 

[idav]

Good point - If the insurance covers prenatal care and pediatric care, abortion is WAY cheaper. It is absolutely in the best interest of insurance companies to provide it.

That is a good point but if a potential parent wants an abortion I'm thinking they will find the means no matter who is willing to cover the cost even if it comes out of their own pocket. It is more of a valid point I think for people who get free health care in the first place without having to worry about a premium.

 

[Alceste]

That is a good point but if a potential parent wants an abortion I'm thinking they will find the means no matter who is willing to cover the cost even if it comes out of their own pocket. It is more of a valid point I think for people who get free health care in the first place without having to worry about a premium.

Some people's pockets don't contain $700. Every day they spend scrambling to find the money, their doomed embryo is inching toward developing the capacity to feel pain. I get "free" health care and I am more than happy for my taxes to fund abortions during the first 12 weeks of an unwanted pregnancy, no questions asked.

 

[jarofthoughts]

I get "free" health care and I am more than happy for my taxes to fund abortions during the first 12 weeks of an unwanted pregnancy, no questions asked.

Ditto.

 

[Father Heathen]

Some people's pockets don't contain $700. Every day they spend scrambling to find the money, their doomed embryo is inching toward developing the capacity to feel pain. I get "free" health care and I am more than happy for my taxes to fund abortions during the first 12 weeks of an unwanted pregnancy, no questions asked.

Each abortion actually benefits society and they more than pay for themselves in the long run.

 

[Alceste]

Each abortion actually benefits society and they more than pay for themselves in the long run.

Kind of, but we also need to let old people to die sooner - or let young people immigrate more easily - if the whole show isn't going to keel over in the next couple decades, demographically speaking.

 

[idav]

Some people's pockets don't contain $700. Every day they spend scrambling to find the money, their doomed embryo is inching toward developing the capacity to feel pain. I get "free" health care and I am more than happy for my taxes to fund abortions during the first 12 weeks of an unwanted pregnancy, no questions asked.

Yes well that may be the case but a lot of time people have to pay a premium or I should have said deductible in which case the cost of the abortion would be about the same as taking it full term as far as the client is concerned anyway. Everyone goes by different rules.

 

[Invisible Pink Unicorn]

Absolutely, and I think elective abortions should be included. There are lots of reasons why a woman chooses to have an abortion. Sometimes it could be because she cannot afford to have a child, and wants to take care of her existing children. If women had better access to medical care, including abortions, then abortion becomes a lot safer and it would help out in the long run.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

I don't see how it would be in insurance companies interest to provide cover for abortions in the first place when it's not neccesary to save the mothers life. Not to be harsh or judgement but those most likely to be needing abortions aren't going to be the wealthy individuals who could afford insurance premiums to cover the cost of elective health treatments.

It'd presumably be a value-added product that could be covered with a higher premium. Insurance companies already do this; for instance, many group plans include emergency travel coverage - the cost is built into the premium of the policy.

The same could work for abortion coverage: just like, say, optical, dental, or emergency travel health coverage, it'd be another product that they could sell. Just let the actuaries figure out the risk, and they'll be able to figure out a premium that will allow them a respectable profit.

Because an abortion is much, much cheaper than carrying a pregnancy to term and having an assisted delivery, not to mention the future medical coverage of the child.

It's the same justification the insurance companies have for offering vasectomies and tubal ligations, often at no cost to the patient.

I don't know about all private insurers, but I've had several policies that covered the procedure.
Abortions would make sense to an insurance company, at least from a financial standpoint.

Good point - I hadn't even thought of it that way. I was just thinking in terms of an extension to a general health insurance plan for some extra premium amount.

 

[Acim]

Are these toddlers still developing inside their mothers' bodies? Did you notice I said personal responsibility for their own bodies?

I noticed it on the front end. You missed it on the back end where I accurately quoted you.

The one place, and only place, where pro-lifers don't grant personal responsibility for woman's body, is when that body is carrying another body. When this body is caring for another developing body. Besides that, to say that pro-lifers deny all choice and responsibility of a woman's body is inaccurate, and unreasonable.

Thus the 'putting toddlers on spikes' question bears being asked, to help make the point that seems to get missed when the 'almighty choice' argument is put forth.

 

[Acim]

Question for pro-lifers; If someone isn't even responsible enough to use something as easy as birth control, what makes you think they're responsible enough to be a parent?

I think 9 months of pregnancy and even a little time after that would afford them opportunity to be brought to awareness of responsible parenting. Or to bring about options that don't end existence of conceived entity, while allowing birthed child to receive good parenting (i.e. adoption).

 

[E. Nato Difficile]

The one place, and only place, where pro-lifers don't grant personal responsibility for woman's body, is when that body is carrying another body. When this body is caring for another developing body. Besides that, to say that pro-lifers deny all choice and responsibility of a woman's body is inaccurate, and unreasonable.

But to say that a woman's rights over her own body end at the instant of conception is dehumanizing her. It's saying that the only relevant matter is the fetus, and that's all. I believe the mother's rights have to be considered regardless of whether she's carrying the all-important fetus.

Thus the 'putting toddlers on spikes' question bears being asked, to help make the point that seems to get missed when the 'almighty choice' argument is put forth.

So you're making an analogy between a fetus developing inside its mother's body and a toddler? Unless you're claiming the mother is completely irrelevant to the matter, that's a terrible analogy.

-Nato

 

[Sunstone]

Interesting article. Why Is Sean Hannity So Mad You're Having Sex? 5 Ways Conservatives Attack Sexual Freedom | Sex & Relationships | AlterNet

 

[Acim]

But to say that a woman's rights over her own body end at the instant of conception is dehumanizing her. It's saying that the only relevant matter is the fetus, and that's all.

That would be straw-man, or misrepresenting what is being said.

I believe the mother's rights have to be considered regardless of whether she's carrying the all-important fetus.

I would agree that those rights are to be considered. For me, that doesn't equate to ending existence of conceived entity. It is the one exception of the umpteen billion choices a female could make while pregnant.

So you're making an analogy between a fetus developing inside its mother's body and a toddler?

The analogy I used was more about how choice can be bastardized to make a mockery out of 'rights.'

 

[Alceste]

Yes well that may be the case but a lot of time people have to pay a premium or I should have said deductible in which case the cost of the abortion would be about the same as taking it full term as far as the client is concerned anyway. Everyone goes by different rules.

Actually, all western nations go by the same rules (universal health insurance coverage, including health coverage for women), within a fairly narrow margin of variation in the details. The US is definitely the outlier as far as health care is concerned.