So-called 'defenders of life,' where were you when ...

March 24, 2005, 12:41AM
Houston Chronicle
So-called 'defenders of life,' where were you when ... ?

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/editorial/outlook/3100066
By FROMA HARROP

I have a question for all those "culture of life" people praying in front of Terri Schiavo's hospital: Where were you last week when President Bush and the Republican Congress were pushing to cut Medicaid? Medicaid is the medical lifeline for the poor. And, by the way, it is picking up some of Schiavo's hospital bills.

Are you aware of your inconsistency? Or are you just pawns of the Republican Party?

You fixate over a woman who has hung in a vegetative state for 15 years, but stand mute as 45 million of your fellow Americans go without any health coverage. More than 18,000 adult Americans die every year for lack of health insurance, according to the Institute of Medicine in Washington.

snip-

There are thousands of Annette Arricos among us today. Lacking health insurance, they do not seek preventive care and avoid getting a diagnosis. That's why the mortality rate from cancer is up to two times higher for uninsured people than those with coverage, says a Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation study.

Florida Gov. Jeb Bush has spent the past year plumping up his "pro-life" credentials with grand displays of hypocrisy. He made a big show of inserting himself into the Schiavo case — basically denying a husband's rights as his wife's legal guardian. While doing that, Bush presided over the unspeakable act of throwing 105,000 poor children off the state's health-insurance program.

continued

It never fails to happily surprise me with their non-party-line reportage!

Houston proper is a rather liberal city, and very diverse.

It's the suburbs and exurbs that are so awful.. like Sugarland and Katy (DeLay country).

Sue

thousands is a statistic"? or something like that. They don't care about the thousands, only the one that can be used for political gain.

I want to go give this writer a big hug for not being afraid of speaking the truth.

:party:

This needs to get out from under all the Schiavo sludge and go directly to the front page!

Oh, the humanity of BushCo hypocrisy! I love it.

where where they, INDEED

You can point out these GLARING inconsistencies -- and there
are a huge number-- and the "pro-life" people don't stop to
think, "Wow-- that's true-- that is a contradiction."

Like the people who blow up abortion clinics or who murder
doctors who perform abortions. Now THAT'S hardly a pro-life
activity yet the fundies don't see the contradiction. They
think they're right in doing that because the doctors are
"murderers." Now, I'm not saying all of them approve of
those tactics-- I'm sure it's a very small minority-- but
it's that mindset I find so chilling.

What a great editorial.

Has anyone from the media asked them?