Buy One, Get One Free

How's this for a double dose of wingnuttia--a chance to reveal their inner misogynist AND spit on the troops:

Court Rules U.S. Need Not Pay for Abortion of Doomed Fetus

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 18 - While suggesting that its decision might seem "callous and unfeeling," a federal appeals court here ruled Thursday that the Navy need not pay for an abortion received by a sailor's wife, even though doctors said the fetus had a birth defect and could not survive.

The unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit came in the case of a 23-year-old woman who lives in Bremerton, Wash. Her name was not disclosed.

The woman terminated her pregnancy in 2002 after she learned that her fetus had no forebrain or cerebellum, a fatal condition known as anencephaly.

The couple, who have an annual income of less than $20,000 dollars, will be billed for the $3,000 dollar procedure. How nice.

Here's a more detailed explanation of anencephaly.

Wingnuts can argue all they want, but I don't buy the "little soul" argument for a millisecond. A fetus afflicted with this condition is more likely than not to be stillborn. If not stillborn, "then he or she will usually die within a few hours or days after birth."

I'll forego making any jokes about why wingnuts might feel a certain kinship with those lacking a forebrain.

The point is that in a modern world, with modern medicine, termination/abortion or whatever you want to call it is simply an option that should be available to a woman in this situation. If a woman chooses to continue a pregnancy under such circumstances, so be it.

And health care--even military health care, i.e., government health care--should cover the costs.

Denial of this claim is a slap in the face.