I've come up with a great new drinking game. Every time a
politician enacts a bill that restricts women’s reproductive rights, you take a
shot. Also, every time a right wing pundit implies women are whores for wanting
contraception, you take a shot. Finally,
every time Planned Parenthood gets its funding cut, you take a shot. The winner
is the first person to black out and forget that we live in a society that
seems to hate women.
 |
| "I can't even feel my legs, let alone shame for my nation." |
In all seriousness, I’m appalled at what has been happening in
this nation. Maybe I’m particularly sensitive to the issue because I was raised
by women. Alternatively it could be just that I’m not a misogynistic Republican
looking to undermine any and all of women’s rights. It’s a tossup. Seriously though, it seems like every time I
look at the news, there’s a new Republican campaign to restrict women’s rights.
I honestly don’t understand it. I cannot even begin to fathom why we, as a
country, are moving backwards. There are so many examples of political misogyny
in the news that I don’t even know where to start. Luckily, MoveOn.org has put
together a handy top ten list for us.
1) Republicans not only want
to reduce women's access to abortion care, they're actually trying to redefine rape. After a major
backlash, they promised to stop. But they haven't yet. Shocker.
2) A state
legislator in Georgia wants to change
the legal term for victims of rape, stalking, and domestic violence to
"accuser." But
victims of other less gendered crimes, like burglary, would remain
"victims."
3) In South
Dakota, Republicans proposed a bill that couldmake it legal to murder a doctor
who provides abortion care. (Yep,
for real.)
4) Republicans
want to cut nearly a billion
dollars of food and other aid to low-income pregnant women, mothers, babies,
and kids.
5) In
Congress, Republicans have a bill that would let
hospitals allow a woman to die rather than perform an abortion necessary to
save her life.
6) Maryland
Republicans ended all county money for a low-income kids' preschool program.
Why? No need, they said.Women should really be home with the kids, not out
working.
7) And at
the federal level, Republicans want to cut
that same program, Head Start, by $1 billion. That means over 200,000 kids could
lose their spots in preschool.
8) Two-thirds
of the elderly poor are women, and Republicans are taking aim at them too. A
spending bill would cut
funding for employment services, meals, and housing for senior citizens.
9) Congress
just voted for a Republican amendment to cut
all federal funding from Planned Parenthood health centers, one of the most trusted providers
of basic health care and family planning in our country.
10) And if
that wasn't enough, Republicans are pushing toeliminate all funds for the
only federal family planning program. (For
humans. But Republican Dan Burton has a bill to provide contraception for wild
horses. You can't make this stuff up).
What kind of country are we living in? This list is so barbaric
and offensive that it’s absurd. The worst part of that list is that it is
barely scraping the surface of the atrocities being committed in state legislatures.
Let’s take one of our friends to the south for example. Georgia recently tried
passing a bill that was commonly known as the “Women are Livestock Bill.” It
was aimed to prevent women from receiving an abortion after 20 weeks. The
theory behind this bill, and I’m not making this up at all, is that if pigs and
cattle can carry a dead fetus long enough for it to be birthed naturally, so
can women. That is an actual thought
process that went through a state representative’s mind. Then that thought
joined up with a bunch of other bad ideas and it became a bill. The state
representative in question was Rep. Terry England (Link).
Eventually, after much fighting (including an actual fist fight), legislators
came to a compromise and added a clause that states a woman can receive an
abortion after 20 weeks if the fetus has “profound and "irremediable"
anomalies that would be "incompatible with sustaining life after birth” (Link).
I’m so glad everyone can come to a compromise on a law that literally restricts
what a woman can do to her body. It’s collaboration at its finest.
North Carolina isn’t exempt from the political misogyny
circus either. It was just a few months ago that a bill passed in this state
that required a woman to wait 24 hours before receiving an abortion and to hear
an ultrasound of the fetus’ heartbeat. The bill had no special provisions for
rape, incest, or age. So that means, a victim of rape or incest has to wait and
listen just like every other woman in this state. I had the misfortune of
watching that bill pass live on TV. I cannot describe the emotions of everyone
in that room. Luckily, Bev Perdue vetoed it shortly after its passing. The fact
that it passed in the first place is astounding to me. Then again, it could be
much worse. Recently Virginia tried to pass a bill that would require a woman
to receive a transvaginal ultrasound prior to receiving an abortion. Luckily, a
clause was added that a woman can opt for an abdominal ultrasound instead. It
seems as though if lawmakers can’t outright ban abortion, they’re going to make
it as difficult and traumatic as possible.
It’s not even just about reproductive rights. Here’s a handy
chart describing all the ways in which the GOP is undermining women’s economic
security throughout their entire lives (Link to source).
There is a silver lining to all of this. Because the GOP has
been actively campaigning against women’s rights, women aren’t going to vote Republican.
“Democrats certainly have something to highlight after two national polls found
Obama leading GOP frontrunner Mitt Romney largely on the strength of women's
support” (Link).
Also, all of this political misogyny has created enough noise to get people out
and campaigning against these bills. “Women who previously weren't as
politically active in those states have come out of the woodwork to protest,
women lawmakers have introduced "message amendments" that target
men's health, and legislators are personally hearing from angry women through
Facebook posts, emails and phone calls to a noticeably higher degree than
previous years” (Link).
At least there’s a bit of an upside to
all of this.
I only mentioned a few things in this blog, there are a hundred
more examples of political misogyny that I could talk about. It’s absolutely
pervasive. I honestly cannot believe that I live in a nation where politicians
can campaign on a plank of anti-women’s rights and be taken seriously. I’m
dumbfounded and enraged. If we’re supposed to be moving towards a completely
equal society, why are we attacking the rights of 53 percent of the nation? I
swear to god, I’m going to rear end the next Subaru I see with a “coexist”
sticker and a “Ron Paul 2012” window decal. If you vote republican, you hate
women. There’s absolutely no way around that.
Now excuse me, i've got to go find a shot glass and begin forgetting.
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