The Bush Administration has announced a plan that will provide pre-natal care to working poor women under the federally financed Child Health Insurance Plan. It’s the type of plan that theoretically should receive accolades from all sides. But the plan has abortion rights proponents up in arms over the language contained in it. According to the press release from the Department of Health and Human Services, the coverage will be extended to “children who are not yet born.” Abortion rights advocates say this is a back-door attempt by the Bush Administration to get a fetus legally defined as a child, which could be a first step towards outlawing abortion. Others argue the plan is the best way to ensure that a serious public health need is met: that poor women get the pre-natal care they frequently cannot afford. This hour, we dissect the Bush Administration’s plan and its possible implications for the abortion debate.

Guests:

Lynn Paltrow, Executive Director of National Advocates for Pregnant Women

Kathleen Gallagher, associate director of the New York State Catholic Conference