ephemera

So that scourge of false rape reports—or even, let’s say, “non-forcible” rapes? It doesn’t exist. I couldn’t find numbers more recent than 2001, but these shocked me. In that year, the total number of abortions covered by Medicaid was 56. That’s all abortions for cases in which the mother’s life was in danger, the pregnancy was a result of incest, or in the case of rape. Another 25 were covered by state Medicaid programs. Even assuming that every single one of those abortions was to end a pregnancy caused by rape, that’s 81 abortions paid for in part with taxpayer dollars. Nationwide. That’s roughly $32,000 total for first trimester procedures. You can see why that number must be brought down by allowing only pregnancies caused by “forcible” rapes to be covered. In case the “forcible” rape exception is still too broad, the authors of H.R. 3 also included a provision that essentially provides a loophole for any state that simply doesn’t want its funds governed by the Hyde Amendment exceptions. Section 308 of the bill reads: Nothing in this chapter or any other Federal law shall be construed to require any State or local government to provide or pay for any abortion or any health benefits coverage that includes coverage of any abortion. “Any abortion.” That means you, you wily rape victims and would-be mothers whose lives are threatened by your pregnancy. Let this serve as notice that the GOP majority doesn’t intend to let you get away with your little Medicaid scams anymore.