Dana Goldstein explains the aberration that is the American abortion debate and takes a look at how other countries handle the issue:
Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, John Dingell — all over Washington, Democrats who once supported single-payer health care are calling Congress’ stalled health-reform efforts “uniquely American.” This poll-tested rhetoric is intended to reassure us that a small public-insurance option won’t kill capitalism. And yet, the longer the health-reform debate drags on, the longer we have to notice that what’s “uniquely American” about our health-care system may be what is least worth preserving, from the outsize influence of private insurers to the role of skinflint employers as health-care middlemen.
But perhaps the most surreal — and American — element of the health-reform debate has been the extent to which abortion politics have slowed the proceedings. Just as the United States spends a greater percentage of its gross domestic product on health care than any other industrialized country, yet has worse health outcomes, the notion that tax dollars shouldn’t pay for abortions is an international aberration, an example of American exceptionalism run amok. If the Democratic leadership allows this conviction to set the parameters of our new health-care system, American women — particularly the poor — will pay a steep price.