In case you’ve been living in a hole, are in nursing school, or otherwise allergic to the news and politics, you should know that an amendment to the Health Care Reform Bill was passed in the House, enabling the Health Care Reform Bill to be passed, where it is awaiting the whole Senate process of turning good ol’ Bill into a Law.

Bill, after all, lives on Capitol Hill, right?

Well, this is GREAT news for all of the supporters of the Health Care Reform Bill. Excellent news! Unless of course, you are a woman who values her own right to choose what she may or may not do to her own body.

Specifically, the Stupak amendment would prohibit federal dollars from being used to buy any policy offered through the exchange that covered abortions other than those related to rape, incest or danger to the mother’s life. It also would require insurers that offered elective abortion coverage through the exchange to also offer policies “identical in every respect” except that they did not cover such abortions.

The main effects of the amendment would be to stop anyone receiving a federal subsidy from buying a comprehensive health insurance policy that covered elective abortions, and to bar the proposed government-run insurance plan (a.k.a. the “public option”) from covering such procedures. The amendment would allow insurers to offer “supplemental” policies that covered abortions, but their customers could not use federal subsidies to buy them.

~ LA Times

You can take from that what you will. The Stupak Amendment will affect low-income women the most, once again making it nearly impossible for those same women to get ahead without relying on the “man-woman marriage” utopia that our government already pushes those women into (aww, honey, just find yourself a good man!).  Way to go, politicians. Way to go.  If abortion is backhandedly declared “illegal” (no, you can get one, but only if you can pay out of pocket, find a clinic that hasn’t closed because they can’t afford to stay open, etc.), then I suggest you all go out and get your tubes tied, grab an IUD or two or stock up on birth control pills, because coverage for those is next. Viagra, however, will now be dispensed next to the toothpicks as you pay the cashier at Denny’s. Awwww yeah.

Ahem. Want to hear about a few other quirks in the matrix lately? Yeah? Awesome! Let’s do this.

1. Sarah Palin’s book came out yesterday and I almost bought a copy, but I’m assuming she will be contacting me directly for a review, or that maybe my request got lost in her hotmail or something, and I’m sure its because of her horror over Levi’s new “deal.” I cannot even bring myself to link to either point. Gaah.

2. There is some strange new “women’s health” recommendation coming down the pipe at the same time as the Stupid Amendment. No mammograms until 50? Again, I’m sure the generous Insurance companies will completely overlook another way to save money by cutting their coverage for mammograms.  Confused about this? Go talk to Dr. Lissa at Owning Pink.

3. The RNC recently discovered that their health insurance covers abortions. Hmmm, interesting. Good thing it never got used, right? *wink wink* I cannot even begin to go into the ways I’ve watched a select few Conservatives try to spin this one, but I think my favorite was “No women ever has to have an elective abortion, AKA convenience abortion.”

4. The new Twilight movie opens on Friday (I think) which means that I will be comfortably at home, fending off those… no, wait, #5 is even better!

5. Enigma just came over, pointed, and said, “does that say ‘boobs?’” to which I confessed that I did, indeed type “boobs.” And, he smiled… and I prepared for his first true prepubescent boob statement. Instead, he called his brother a boob… and brought me a new notice from the school that there is lice in his classroom.

I’m going to die now.