My letter, as printed by the Lowell Sun.

The Lowell Sun
Updated: 12/31/2009 06:35:53 AM EST

The Senate has passed its version of the health-care reform bill, but before victory parties begin the next step is attempting to merge the individual bills that have been passed in the House and Senate. The two health-care reform bills have significant differences that may cause health-care reform to flounder and fail.

The vote that counts in the days ahead belongs to pro-life Sen. Bart Stupak of Michigan, who brought a bloc of 40-plus fellow Democrats to the table with his anti-abortion amendment.

The Stupak amendment ensures that insurers in an exchange cannot pay for any abortion or to cover any part of the costs of any health plan that includes coverage of abortion. The Senate version would allow each state to bar abortion coverage individually in health plans in the exchanges.

The House is not likely to pass a bill that Sen. Stupak does not support. That means the most likely change to happen on abortion coverage language is that it becomes more restrictive instead of less, like the pro-choice Democrats in the Senate are hoping.

The passage of a health-care reform bill seems to rest solely on the issue of abortion. In both parties, the power is strong enough to cause both Democrats and Republicans to crucify health-care reform.

When Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, he initially wrote to bar slavery and free all who were enslaved. In the end, he was forced to remove the amendment to allow the Declaration to pass successfully. The result was felt for 86 more years until President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1862, giving the gift of freedom to thousands of slaves.
I am of the opinion that both the Senate and the House should look back and take notes on Jefferson and Lincoln. Jefferson was willing to compromise on his beliefs in order to save his country, and Lincoln refused to compromise on his beliefs when the price was human lives.

MOLLY BOURRET

Pelham, N.H.