On Tuesday, Senate Democrats shot down a bill proposing $1.1 billion of federal funding to counter the Zika virus, already at epidemic levels in Latin America and expected to wash up on southern shores in the United States this summer.
Zika, which is mosquito-borne, causes defects and brain damage in babies born to mothers with the virus, and contraception and abortion are seen as ways to deter its spread. The reason for the bill’s failure? Democrats claim that Republicans slid provisions into the bill that would make it hard for women to access contraceptives and abortion, by diminishing the presence of Planned Parenthood and other clinics.
Medical ethicist Art Caplan spoke to Boston Public Radio Wednesday about the dangerous implications of the decision, which came a day after the Supreme Court ruled against a Texas abortion law that posed a major threat to clinics in that state and others.
“To make it part of this general battle about abortion, again, I think is ethically inexcusable because you’re holding hostage this impending miserable epidemic disease that could cause a lot of birth defects, and will ultimately for sure lead to abortions,” Caplan said. “Coming in July and August it’s almost too late to really do much in the way of research, so shame on Congress for not funding Zika adequately.”
Arthur L. Caplan Ph.D., is the Drs. William F and Virginia Connolly Mitty Professor of Bioethics at New York University, Langone Medical Center, in New York City. To hear the full interview, click on the audio link above.
