Abortion and contraception are health care. Any health insurance plan, public or private, should cover abortion and contraception - and the education that goes with it - with the same level of coverage as any other health care. Humans have sex. Humans walk. Humans drive cars. Humans exercise (or think about doing so). Humans eat. All these human activities should be considered in any plan to cover human health. Either that, or every unmarried adult, from birth to death, should be required to be abstinent (as if marriage ever stopped STDs, unplanned pregnancy, or even violent injury).
When we talk about abortion, we feel we need to give "equal time" to those who want to criminalize it in our laws. They call themselves "pro-life". Unfortunately restrictive abortion laws cause a harm for women which is real in a way that the "harm" for zygotes is not. People have to look at a sonogram and imagine what the fetus feels. You look at a women dying, or in fear of dying, from unsafe abortion and no imagination is necessary.
We are scared to talk about this issue as a health issue, rather than a "culture war". But doctors in other countries far stricter than ours found ways to talk about it. What can we learn from them? How can we support patient's choices against an angry crowd/society/culture which would not exist for any other type of medical care?
Read this and see: Why It's Good the Leave the US To Talk About Abortion
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