And I was in such a good mood...
(via Ezra)

An amendment, expected to pass, added to the healthcare bill:

The amendment will prohibit federal funds for abortion services in the public option. It also prohibits individuals who receive affordability credits from purchasing a plan that provides elective abortions. However, it allows individuals, both who receive affordability credits and who do not, to separately purchase with their own funds plans that cover elective abortions. It also clarifies that private plans may still offer elective abortions.

You know what? Just fucking make it illegal. Because either abortion is legal, and is a medical procedure, between a woman and her doctor, and not subject to arbitrary legislation, or it's illegal. Emphasis in the above paragraph is mine. I am, sadly, not surprised by the first bit. Of course pandering politicians had to assure anti-choicers that their precious tax dollars wouldn't be spent on that horrible procedure for bad women. But to go another step and prohibit certain individuals (those individuals who, by definition, are least able to afford an abortion - but hey! I'm sure having a kid is cheaper, right?) to prohibit those individuals from choosing a plan (NOT the public option) that covers abortion? But really, why does even that surprise me? We spent the past eight years (and another eight under Bush I) forbidding NGOs that receive federal funding from even talking about abortion.