Romney is many things, but I have trouble believing he is an extraordinarily honest man. The timing of his changes on social conservative positions is just too coincidental for me to take them at face value. Also, I could not see Bush or any other true pro-life executive agreeing to a $50 copay for elective abortion.
You may interpret the timing of his change as you wish. It’s a free country. But don’t blame him for the abortion copay, it was mandated pre-Romney by the state supreme court. He had no more right to disobey it than to disobey Roe v. Wade. He was governor, not dictator.
Your premise is faulty. There wasn’t a meeting where he sat down with pro-abortion legislators and hashed out the details on how much the co-pay would be for abortion services.
Services for abortions had to be covered under the law, which covers “necessary and appropriate” services (the entire medical insurance law, not just the abortion services).
People under the law can choose which coverage to buy. Several are HMO coverage plans, and they have various co-pays. You could buy a $100 co-pay, or a $50 co-pay, or get a POS that requires you to pay 20%.
The co-pays for abortion are in line with the co-pays in each insurance for covered medical procedures.
Bush has never pushed to change the federal law that requires medically necessary abortion coverage. Fred Thompson never tried to change that law either, and has not talked about changing that law, and he is pro-life enough to get the NRTL endorsement.
“$50-dollar copay” is another misleading soundbite that unfortunately is used as a substitute for rational discussion of the issues we face.