Womens Rights Face Greatest Threat - In Our Lifetime - Essay Example

The essay hopes to achieve a two-fold objective, to wit: (1) to provide explanations on the issues discussed within the article, and (2) to demonstrate the ways that the article is related to the course material.

Terkel noted Pelosi to emphasize that Republicans were advancing three legislations that limit or restrict access to abortion by (1) preventing the use of taxpayers’ money to fund abortion-related services; (2) denying tax credits to employers or business establishments that allow health coverage of employees with abortion access; (3) denying “federal family-planning funds under Title X to groups that offer abortion access” (Terkel, 2011, par. 4); and (4) allowing hospitals to turn away women who opt to terminate the pregnancy even to save lives (Terkel, 2011, par. 5).

The concerns raised by Pelosi are related to the issues of women’s health, particularly on reproductive health and reproductive rights (Kirk and Okazawa-Rey, 2004, p. 173). The topic of abortion is still a controversial issue when taken from a global perspective. Not only take into account the issue seen as barred and illegal in predominantly Catholic nations but the issue has also been monitored to provide risks to women (Malter and Wind, 2012). Accordingly, “research from WHO shows that complications due to unsafe abortion continued to account for an estimated 13% of all maternal deaths worldwide in 2008; almost all of these deaths occurred in developing countries” (Malter & Wind, 2012).

The concern about Pelosi, as disclosed in the article focused primarily on the legislation that sought to deny federal family planning funds to groups that offer access to abortion services. As averred, “I can't believe that everybody who is anti a woman's right to choose is anti-birth control and contraception and family planning” (Terkel, 2011, par. 7). Aside from denying rights to avail or restrict access to services to abortion, these legislations aim to limit the funds to be allocated for reproductive health and reproductive rights. In addition, one strongly believes that the more crucial matter is the proposed advancement of the legislation that would allow hospitals to deny women opting to terminate the pregnancy even if the women’s lives are already at risk.

Known as the Protect Life Act, one does not believe that any law should preclude women to get the required service to save one’s life. As reported by Laura Bassett (2011), “a spokesperson for Catholic Healthcare West, which owns St. Joseph's in Phoenix, said the Protect Life Act would not change anything about its current policy, which is to provide abortions only for women whose lives are in danger. But other Catholic hospitals reserve the right to opt-out of providing them, depending on the discretion of the bishops that preside over them” (par. 9). The legislative act is precluding the right of the women, not only to decide what is best but also ultimately, to live. Read More