Health Care Reform

In the past week I have gotten about 20 emails about health care reform. People are worried about rising costs, but they also want access to the best of the best. It is hard to believe that the government can settle both problems. The underlying issue in any health topic is to preserve and protect the sanctity of life. Somehow that gets left out of the debate when important health resources - like medical nutrition counseling for diabetics - get cut and elective procedures - like abortion - get increased funding.

So how do you get a point across to elected officials?


Below is a letter I wrote to my representative. I did some research on his website to see what I could start with and found some great information. He has a long history of lowering taxes and using resources wisely. On that part of his career I completely agree with him. I hoped by starting with common ground he would understand my concern in a way that is important to him - fiscal responsibility. I am posting this letter so anyone contemplating contacting their representative can hopefully take some ideas from my sample.


Dear Representative Peters,

I wanted to contact you to let you know my thoughts on the upcoming health care reform. First of all, I wanted to say that I read your biography and admire the way you have dealt with money in the past. Your record shows that you look out for the best interests of those you represent by cutting waste and making sure money goes where it is most needed.

I will try to keep my comment short and sweet. Although I agree with many others that health care needs to reform, I disagree with some of the ways that are proposed to do just that. It is important to me that abortion be explicitly excluded from any type of national health care plan that may be proposed. It is something that is most times an elective procedure and the funds could be used somewhere else. Please help protect those of us that feel abortion is the killing of an unborn child by keeping our taxes from providing exactly that. If you disagree with my request I would like to know why you believe that my hard earned money is best utilized in that capacity.

Thank you,


Jenelle

Education

This summer is flying by! I enjoyed finishing up the year teaching psychology to juniors and for the past two weeks I have loved helping out with the extended school year program as a special education para. All that has meant more work for me and no "prep" time to update this blog. The summer gets busy and I hope everyone is enjoying it!

In other news, I had my monthly board meeting this week and was reminded of something that I find truly important - education. The more people are educated about the issues, the more chance we have of succeeding. It is amazing the amount of items that can be in political bills. It is extremely hard to stay educated on what they are all about. We have all heard that legislation that has hundreds or even a thousand pages is being passed before anyone could have time to read it. Legislation that sounds like a good thing may have many negative items slipped in at the last minute. One thing that is not last minute is the inclusion of abortion in the new health care plans - President Obama has shown that this is an important issue to him. The health care plans are so comprehensive that even if it does not explicitly state that as a service, it could be easily justified in just about any scenario. In most cases, abortion is an elective procedure and should be seen as just that. The congress is not voting on the bill yet, but I will post on here when they are so that you can feel free to contact your representatives while the issue is directly in front of them.

Vaccines as a pro-life issue

Vaccines seem to be controversial lately - most publicly for allegedly causing autism. Less public concern I have is over the vaccines that were created with the help of aborted babies or their organs. Unfortunately, I seem to come off as anti-medicine which is not true - medicine can save lives. On the other hand, much of our modern health technology bends or breaks ethical and moral standards and in many cases one important statement is ignored or pushed to the side...

Life is NOT expendable

In a related note, one of my favorite books is coming out as a movie that looks really good (starring Cameron Diaz). My Sister's Keeper addresses some medical ethical issues about how life should be treated. I encourage everyone to see it or - better yet - read the book.

The Joy of Life

This weekend I had the privilege of visiting one of my favorite couples. My friends got married in October and are expecting. Sunday was the first time I got a chance to see them since their wedding and boy have there been changes! They moved cities, bought a house and one has a noticeable baby bump. I have not had the opportunity to be around very many expectant mothers in recent years and this is the first time a close friend of mine has been in that situation. I don't know what the baby looks like right now, but I'm thinking that little life inside looks a something like this...




My friends were open to life and have been excited about this process. It was such a blessing to finally see the joy in their faces and feel the kicks of that special little one. Through this visit, I was reminded that everyone has different roles in life. My friends truly respect all aspects of life, as I do, and are fulfilling their role to promote the value of family - by creating one of their own! So congrats to that special couple and joy to life!

Embryo Adoption

Here's a cool fact to leave with on this Friday morning before what will hopefully be a beautiful weekend. You can adopt embryos from a fertility clinic like you would adopt a baby. I guess all those embryos don't have to just get "thrown out" after all. I'm sure a lot of infertile couples would love to be able to experience the whole pregnancy and birth process if at all possible and this is one way that could happen. Sometimes science can be really cool!

Natural Family Planning Video

I was searching the web to try to find a new topic to write about and I came across a great website that promotes a video on Natural Family Planning. There is a clip that makes me believe the video was produced rather well. It was an uplifting moment for me to know that there truly is a lot of information out there on the topic if you take the time to look.

My promise...

Today I had a doctor's appointment and was reminded of how blessed I am to have a doctor with similar values. He said something in passing that is still ringing in my head right now. When discussing some treatment options, he talked about how "NFP-ing" while on the pill (for medical reasons) was keeping the promise to God about keeping Him in the marriage. While he created a verb to make his point - it was one that I have failed to mention. One of the great benefits of Natural Family Planning is keeping God first and agreeing with him when he states that man is "very good." Fertility is included in that statement and I love that Will and I use NFP to respect that part of God's plan for our life. It has helped us grow to be more self-giving (like when my husband cleans the kitchen for me) and for that I am thankful. Above all, I know that my husband honors me - all of me. Even without the religious aspect - I think this practice has helped us and will help anyone who is willing. It is liberating to know that what we are doing is natural and has many blessings I have already benefited from in less than a year of marriage.