Apart from the healthcare reform debate, among the Administration’s initiatives the issue of maternal health receives much attention. Recently the U.S. Delegation led the way at the United Nation’s 54th Commission on the Status of Women by introducing and lobbying for a Maternal Health resolution; Maternal Health is a pillar of the U.S. government interagency $63 billion Global Health Initiative; domestically Maternal Health is a top priority within the Department for Health and Human Services and even within the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.
So what exactly is maternal health? It sounds so good: All of us have mothers; most of us love our mothers dearly and would fight ardently on their behalf for excellent health services. But irony of ironies, the Administration’s definition of maternal health includes access to abortion. According to Secretary Clinton at the recent G-8 Summit on maternal health in Canada, “You cannot have maternal health without reproductive health,” Mrs. Clinton stated. “And reproductive health includes contraception and family planning and access to legal, safe abortion.”
This might be a good moment to consider the reality behind the word “abortion.” Fittingly, the word does not adequately convey the reality of the procedure.
The following quote is from a woman who had an abortion and operated a clinic. “I’ve never been able to come up with the words to describe the abortion procedure. There are no words to describe how bad it really is. It kills the baby. I’ve seen sonograms with the baby pulling away from the instruments that are introduced into the [the woman’s body]… Yes, they are very painful to the baby. But, yes they are very, very painful to the woman. I’ve seen six people hold a woman on the table while they did the abortion.”
To the Obama Administration, abortion is a morally neutral and medically acceptable act. To women, born and unborn, it never will be.
Words have meaning. And among the most meaningful are these: Every single person from the moment of conception has dignity and the inherent right to live. Skillful oratory or not, that truth will long outlast the presidency of Barack Obama.