Well, the House passed the Stupak-Pitts Amendment to HB 3962, the current health care so-called reform bill. And it did reform health: back to before Roe v Wade. Any woman who needs a government-subsidized plan will be unable to get an abortion without buying a rider.

President Obama promised that people would be able to keep their present coverage under health reform. No word from the prez on this yet, but there's no reason to think that he will actually stand up for women, as he has been going along with the Lap Dogs on every other way they have undercut decent, affordable health care. And, this is the same person who claimed to be a "fierce advocate for gays and lesbians," unless it actually means doing something to give them equal rights.

The Dems that voted for the amendment are listed here. 

Speaker Nancy Pelosi bowed to the Catholic Church and its minions in Congress by explicitly allowing the vote. Obama, who threatened the Progressive Caucus that the Democratic National Committee would withhold election funds from anyone who voted against more war funding, did absolutely nothing to prevent this, and also supported everything the Lap Dogs wanted that would make the "reform" more expensive and less effective.

I would call them the Dems spineless, but that would be an insult to invertebrates everywhere. They are giving us "reform" that will not negotiate for better drug prices and forces people to buy insurance or face fines.

This is a huge windfall for insurance and pharmaceutical companies, who will get money from the government funding about 36 million new customers without imposing any significant cost controls on the industry. And the public option is so limited in scope that it, too, is nothing to write home about.

Meanwhile, "Republicans said the measure was too costly and would end up burdening the nation for decades to come. Some Democrats expressed the same view in explaining their opposition.

“This bill is a wrecking ball to the entire economy,” said Representative Jack Kingston, Republican of Georgia. “We need targeted specific reforms to help people who have fallen through the health care cracks.” - NYTimes.

The Rs and the Lap Dogs all offer plans that are even worse and ignore the cost per capita comparisons that look like this compared to Europe and Japan, all of whom have universal coverage:

National per capita spending on health care, 2007
United States: $7,290
Norway: $4,763 
Switzerland: $4,417 
Luxembourg: $4,162 
Canada: $3,895 
Austria: $3,761
France: $3,601
Germany: $3,588
Netherlands: $3,527 
Belgium: $3,462 
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development average: $2,964 
Source: Salon (9/8/09)

We are truly screwed. So, why is everyone cheering?