Private Option – Does life begin at conception?
I was challenged over my assertion that the Arkansas Private Option allows abortion inducing drugs. I provide more information here and explain why the answer is yes it does.
The issue can be boiled down to this:
- If you believe that life begins at conception then “yes” the Private Option pays for ending life. = “abortion”.
- If you are Pro-Choice and deny that life begins at conception, then you will assert that it can’t be abortion until the “baby” is further developed. (Oops, you wouldn’t call it a baby either.)
The folks at Hobby Lobby believe that life begins at conception and therefore certain drugs labeled as “contraceptives” are actually drugs that kill babies. This is why they are fighting against Obamacare in the U.S. Supreme Court. They don’t want to go against their faith and have to pay for drugs and items that would end a human life after conception, such as Plan B, Ella and certain IUDs.
Those same life ending items that Hobby Lobby is fighting against are required to be available through the Private Option, which is paid by taxpayers. For example, under the Private Option, Blue Cross Blue Shield [i] and Ambetter [ii] both list Plan B (levonorgestrel) in their drug formularies.
As a condition for approving the Private Option the Federal government required the drugs to be provided. This is true of the Private Option and all other Obamacare Medicaid expansion plans and all of the Obamacare exchanges.
Healthcare.gov doesn’t want you to think that life begins upon conception. Therefore, it claims that abortion inducing drugs are not covered, while instead calling these killer drugs “Emergency contraception.” Healthcare.gov says coverage must be provided for: “Emergency contraception, like Plan B® and ella®”
Like Healthcare.com, some people don’t believe that life begins at conception and so they won’t call it abortion. Just as some people don’t think that a fetus is a human being and they won’t refer to killing a fetus as “killing a baby.”
So there you have it. It depend on what you believe about life. When do you think the life of a baby begins? At conception or some later time that is more convenient for you?
Arkansas didn’t have to pass the private option. Are there Arkansas legislators, who believe that life begins at conception, who are now shocked to find that their vote for the Private Option is helping end human life?
[i] http://www.arkansasbluecross.com/doclib/documents/pharmacy/exchange/exchange%20Formulary.pdf
[ii] http://www.ambetterofarkansas.com/files/2014/01/AR-Short-Drug-List_FINAL.pdf