United States: Abortion Finds Itself at the Heart of the Debate Over the Budget

A few hours from the Friday midnight deadline — which could bring about a governmental blockage in Washington, the fight over the budget raged on yesterday.

At midday, Democrats and Republicans still seem to be far from agreeing on the financial law of 2011. And closer still to not only another paralysis of the state, but also the forced unemployment of 800,000 government workers.

In a rather unexpected development, Democratic majority leader Harry Reid surmised that the brawl doesn’t really have anything to do with an argument over the numbers anymore — but rather with an ideological war. Very early in the morning, he thus affirmed in front of the cameras that “abortion is preventing a budget deal… this all deals with women’s health. Everything else has been resolved.”

Later, during an intervention in front of the Senate, he started up again by assuring that he was fighting for his wife’s health, as well as the health of his daughters and his granddaughters. Reid also claimed that he refused to accept budgetary cuts mostly advised by the tea party, who aim to reduce federal support for family planning organizations that defend a woman’s right to an abortion. “I will not yield to the extremist agenda of the Tea Party,” he added.

On the Republican side, they’re denying everything. The Republican leader of the House of Representatives, John Boehner, assured him that the Democrats are simply not ready for sufficient budgetary cuts. For a week now, the two sides have been fighting it out over $40 billion in cuts and still haven’t found a single solution.

So, there are only a few hours left for Democrats and Republicans to avoid a governmental blockage that could be disastrous from an economic point of view, as well as certainly not favored by public opinion. But yesterday morning, we were still playing a political joust, and no one seemed optimistic.