I am reading the New York Times this moring, and see that the Senate claims to have 60 votes on the health care bill. The lone hold out, Senator Ben Nelson (D-Nebraska), pushed for more restrictive abortion language. Oh joy. The good news is that less federal money (read: your money and my money) will be spent on abortions. The bad news is that some of your money and mine will be spent killing babies.
Inflammatory language, you say? Indeed it is. It is also honest language; straight talk; hard truth. As a culture, we have become so adept at using words to spin things; to position ourselves; to minimize that which is emotionally charged or inflamatory. I am a writer and a speaker. Words are a big part of my life. Words are a tool, they are a gift. We must be good stewards of them.
We are not.
We are not because we twist them and abuse them. We use them to mask and deceive. We use them to make things appear less than they are. Politicians have long been perhaps the very best at that. Commenting on the latest version of the bill, Senator Barbara Boxer (D - California) and Senator Patty Murray (D - Washington) issued a joint statement that left me incredulous.  “We said we would not accept language that prohibited a woman from using her own private funds for her legal reproductive healthcare.” (italics mine). WOW. That’s a great one!!! These distinguished senators have used their words to refer to abortions as “legal reproductive healthcare”. So are we to believe that killing babies is reproductive healthcare? Abortion isn’t healthcare. It is a medical procedure that ends a human life. People have all kinds of reasons for doing it, and it is not for me to debate whether those reasons are “good enough”. What I take offense to is the cowardice by which it is addressed and referred to - the extent to which is sanitized and sterlizied and neutered.
Say what you mean, Senators. You want women to be able to pay for their own abortions. You don’t want the new healthcare bill to put a stop to it. Coining a new phrase to soften it for guys like me just makes you look stupid.