H.R. #3: assault on women’s health

Guest post by Viola Baskerville

Last week America paid her final respects to one of our most beloved First Ladies, Betty Ford. Time Magazine once called her the “Fighting First Lady” for her outspoken political views and support for women’s rights. She was a Republican who lobbied for the ERA Amendment to the United States Constitution and was pro-choice. When she discovered she had breast cancer early on in her role as First Lady, she spoke openly about it. Her advocacy sent countless numbers of women to their doctors thus perhaps saving their lives. She was a public pioneer who helped erase the stigma of breast cancer and started the public conversation. Then, in her post White House years, after confronting her own addiction to alcohol and drugs, she founded the Betty Ford Clinic as a  place of hope for other women with her same struggles. She was really something.

Looking at today’s toxic political climate, one really appreciates Betty Ford’s boldness in speaking her mind. Seeing the actions of the current Congress on some fronts, one really wonders what is going on and what would Betty Ford say to all of this. Take for example the most recent and unprecedented assault on women’s health and on small business owners in the House of Representatives’ passage of the  “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act.“ With the help of 17 Democrats, House Republicans passed H.R.3 sponsored by Representative Chris Smith of New Jersey. This act would actually raise taxes on small businesses.

Under the proposed legislation, if a small business owner offers health care insurance to its employees and the plan covers any “abortion related service,” then the small business owner would be ineligible to receive the Small Business Health Care Tax Credit, thus raising the business owner’s taxes. The business owner would be faced with the choice of either staying with his or her current plan and not receiving the tax credit, or dropping its current provider, searching for another plan in a tough health care market and paying higher premiums. This proposed legislation with its ideological agenda will increase taxes and hamper economic growth.

Focusing on expanding the growth and development of small, women and minority-owned businesses and creating new jobs by the inclusion of under utilized businesses in the Commonwealth’s procurement opportunities was a top priority for me as a former a Member of the Virginia House of Delegates and as Secretary of Administration to Governor Timothy Kaine.

Allowing small businesses the flexibility needed to offer health care insurance to their employees in a tough market without penalizing their participation in a healthcare tax credit plan should be something elected officials would support. Small businesses are America’s economic engine and will be the backbone of her recovery. Let’s not break their backs. H.R. #3 is an assault on women’s health and on small businesses.

Viola Baskerville served on the Richmond City Council and in the Virginia House of Delegates from 1998 to 2005. She was Secretary of Administration in the cabinet of Governor Tim Kaine from 2006 to 2010.