Clinton, GOP Invoke Motherhood in Health Efforts

All that was missing Saturday was apple pie, as both President Clinton and his Republican opposition invoked motherhood to argue their cases for and against the Administration’s health care reform plan.

Clinton marked the Mother’s Day weekend by making an appeal for his proposal, which he said would give mothers “another gift that will improve and prolong their lives--the gift of good health care.”

“Women are the people most likely to guard their family’s health care and to make sure we’re all healthier, and yet too often our health care system leaves women behind,” Clinton said in his weekly radio address.

“Even when treatments are available, women don’t get the necessary health care they need because they have inadequate insurance, or none at all,” the President said.

In addition to guaranteeing health care coverage to every American, Clinton said, the Administration proposal would emphasize preventive care, such as mammograms and Pap smears, and make research into women’s health problems a higher priority.

“Today, I ask every mother’s child to send another card this Mother’s Day,” Clinton said. “Address it to your senator or representative in Congress. Tell them this health care reform plan is important because it may help the most important person in your life.”

The Republican response to Clinton’s address also picked up on the Mother’s Day theme, as Rep. Porter J. Goss of Florida agreed that the health care system should provide affordable, high-quality care.

However, he said Clinton’s proposal was merely “a move toward bigger, more intrusive government” that would deny “a mother’s right to choose a doctor or decide which treatment to pursue for herself or her family.”