As if the abortion issue isn’t charged enough, we Mainers now have another live wire to contend with. One of the big questions before the Legislature this month is whether taxpayers should pay for poor women’s elective abortions.

Senate President Beth Edmonds, arguably the most powerful woman in state government, has proposed a bill, LD 1309, which would have Mainers subsidizing a wider number of abortions. Medicaid already pays for medically necessary abortions for poor women. LD 1309 would allow poor women to receive medically unnecessary abortions at an estimated yearly cost of $285,000.

Edmonds’ proposal is clearly offensive to those who believe abortion is wrong. As one who prides herself on building compromise, the bill is the height of bull-headedness and fails to take into account the beliefs of many Mainers who want nothing to do with abortion, let alone funding it with their hard-earned tax money.

Not only is Edmonds wrong to propose such divisive legislation, she is also hypocritical in doing so. In February 2003, Edmonds helped make Maine’s Legislature the first in the nation to sign a resolution opposing the Iraq War. In signing, she made her intentions known that she didn’t want tax money subsidizing a morally corrupt venture. Ironically, only four short years later, Edmonds wants government to pay for elective abortion, a practice a large percentage of Mainers consider as morally corrupt as an unjust war. She criticizes President Bush for ignoring the will of the people, but instead of learning from Bush’s mistakes, she turns around and commits the same error in leadership.

Opponents of the war, including House and Senate Democrats in Washington, D.C., are doing everything they can to cut off funding because they believe the war is unjustified. And they don’t want Americans’ hard-earned tax money paying for it. They also loathe the Bush Administration for ignoring the will of the American people by continuing on with the war, and even escalating the war effort with the recent surge in troops.

It’s the same with Edmond’s abortion bill. There are folks who are morally opposed to abortion, especially elective abortions, who don’t want their tax money going to support an act they view as morally corrupt. But Edmunds doesn’t care, and instead is leading the charge and ignoring a vast number who disagree with her.

Aside from the irony of Edmond’s actions, her timing is unfortunate. To propose such frivolous government spending when the budget is in shambles is hard to understand. Even if people in Maine wanted to pay for poor women’s elective abortions, the state can’t do it because it doesn’t have the cash. And if the state does have the money, then why all the wrangling and posturing in Augusta over this year’s budget? Why the talk of tax increases? Is it to help pay for wasteful spending like elective abortion procedures? Since when did government pay for people’s wants, rather than their needs?

The Health and Human Services Committee, which is scheduled to discuss the bill on Friday, May 4, should unanimously vote “ought not to pass” and let the Legislature focus on more important work.

-John Balentine, editor