My congressman was seeing constituents in Gladlyville today, and I walked down to his office to talk to him. I went in with a group of three other people; they wanted to talk about healthcare and the environment and student loan debt. When he got around to me, I said, "I'd like to talk about your pro-life position. I'd like to encourage you to think a little more broadly about those convictions."
You folks have heard it all before. But I told him briefly about my experience with Joe, about the utter failure of pre-ACA insurance companies to provide affordable maternity coverage for people without employer-provided health insurance. I told him about the hospitals here in town, with their >40% C-section rates and their VBAC bans. I said, "Women shouldn't have to worry that it's going to cost them $40K to get pregnant. Every pregnant woman needs immediate affordable access to prenatal care." Oh, yes, he assured me. Women will absolutely be able to get prenatal care under the AHCA.
He was a little vague on the immediate and affordable parts.
"I'd also like to encourage you to keep in mind the impact of environmental toxins on gestating babies," I told him. "I'm concerned about H.R. 953," I said. He looked confused. "Is that a piece of state legislation?" (I wasn't 100% sure I had the bill number right, but it turns out that I did. And, just as I thought, he voted yes last week.) In the moment I pressed on through the uncertainty. I told him I was worried that when it came to substances like chlorpyrifos and atrazine, industry profits were weighted more heavily than the well-being of gestating babies. He nodded hastily. (But seriously, who's going to tell me to my face that I should be more worried about profits and less worried about babies?) He was ready for the next group.
So that part felt really unpleasant and awkward. And then I went outside, where the protesters wanted to hear about our conversation with the congressman. I hung back for a moment, because they were putting video on Facebook for their progressive voters' group, and I wasn't sure how they would react when I said, "I told him he should be more authentically pro-life." But do you remember that thing I said on November 9 about speaking out as a pro-life Democrat? That's what I did, also awkwardly. We agree on access to health care. We agree on the importance of clean water and an effective EPA. We agree on voting this guy right out in 2018.
Now I am feeling awkward again, having recounted the morning's awkwardness for you. But that's how it goes, in my experience, the first time you speak up about something. It will probably feel easier the next time. And if it doesn't, there's always the time after that.
Recent Comments