Big Government Republican Health Care: Banning Medical Abortions.

Republicans have been shouting: "Get government out of health care."

Republicans have been shouting: "Get government between a doctor and a patient."

Republicans are having it both ways, and getting away with it. Just as intrusive, Republicans don't seem to have any confidence that people, average everyday grownups, can't make difficult decisions all by themselves about unwanted pregnancies.

Big government Republicans are now calling the shots when it comes to medical procedures and what doctors can or cannot do.

Rachel Maddow does a great job of framing the big government Republican issue of health care mandates, the nanny state kind, that have nothing to do with medicine:



Here's the local coverage from WKOW:

WSJ: Citing a new state law that subjects abortion doctors to criminal penalties, Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin plans to announce Friday that it is suspending medication-induced abortions. Planned Parenthood will continue to provide surgical abortions at its clinics in Appleton, Madison and Milwaukee, CEO Teri Huyck said. About 25 percent of women who terminate their pregnancies at a Planned Parenthood clinic do so through nonsurgical medication abortions.

What is especially insulting is the Republican assumption that the difficult decision to terminate a pregnancy by all those involved, needed their convoluted political intervention to prevent coercion. For a party that promotes individualism and freedom, family disagreements over an unwanted pregnancy is suddenly something only Republicans can decide. At the same time supersede the treatment and process prescribed by a doctor, making it a felony to follow standard medical procedure. 

Big government health care!

The new law mandates, among other things, that women undergoing nonsurgical abortions visit the same doctor three times and that doctors ensure through specific steps that the woman is undergoing the procedure voluntarily and without coercion. The state already requires that women provide written consent before having an abortion. The new law requires that if a doctor suspects a woman is being coerced, she must be provided with a telephone and information about domestic-abuse services.