Why does Third Way oppose the Stupak amendment?
Third Way is a centrist Democratic group that’s generally associated with calls for Democrats to compromise on divisive cultural issues, not aggressive efforts to reject compromises on divisive cultural issues. So their angry report on the Stupak compromise caught my eye. I called Rachel Laser, one of the report’s co-authors, to discuss it. Your report says that the Stupak amendment violates the principle of “abortion neutrality.” What is “abortion neutrality?” An approach that doesn’t change the legality, availability, federal role or cost of abortion. How does the Stupak amendment fail? It changes the federal role, for a start. It goes beyond the Hyde amendment, which says that federal funds can’t be used for abortion. It effectively causes there to be no abortion coverage in the exchange, which bans you from using private premiums, which is unprecedented. It also challenges long-standing policies regarding the segregation of funds. Even religious organizations are expected to be rel
