Abortion Battles in the States

The Washington Post had a good article this weekend about how many states are using a provision of the health care reform law to ban the sale of abortion coverage in insurance policies offered on the exchanges in their states.
This is a story that has, heretofore, slid under the radar. Pro-choice groups did not want to highlight the provision that allowed states to ban abortion coverage for obvious reasons. And anti-Obama groups did not want to highlight the fact that the President had adopted this provision which embodies both pro-life potential and a measure of federalism that undercuts the "government takeover" meme the anti-Obama forces have relied on to whip up opposition to the health care law.
It is often forgotten that the original Roe v. Wade decision allowed states wide latitude to regulate abortions in the latter stages of pregnancy. Sadly, the "health" exception became a truck through which abortion-on-demand could be driven. But, this debate about abortion coverage harkens back to the type of local control Roe permitted. That is a good thing. The more we debate abortion, the more we discuss it, the more people will come to see it for the human tragedy it is.