Why Specter's Explanation Fails

I just watched part of a town hall meeting in which Arlen Specter spoke in favor of the proposed health care bill. His words, at the time, focused on abortion. He was telling the uproarious crowd that the plan includes options that do not cover abortions - so you don't have to have abortion coverage in your own plan.

This is not an effective argument. Those who oppose abortion, on grounds that it is murder, will not be happy that their tax dollars will pay for it. It won't matter if it's for the neighbor's pregnancy rather than their own - they don't want to pay for something they consider to be wrong.

Arguments like this baffle me because no one who opposed abortion could possibly be satisfied with them. I would prefer a politician who admits that we disagree on this issue and that one side is going to have to be disappointed. Obviously, I want my side to win, but there is no middle ground on the issue of abortion and its insulting to insist that there is.