Members of this party are doing their best to take the status of American women back a century. The recent spate of radical anti-abortion bills signed into law by the governors of several states, with Alabama's being the most oppressive, are taking control of women's bodies away from the women themselves. A bunch of scared old Republican men apparently thinks it has the right to do this. It appears these men are deathly afraid of losing their power, with increasing numbers of women and non-whites running for, and being elected to, office.
Women's rights are human rights. Women's rights are civil rights. We make up half (50.8 percent according to the most recent census) of the population of this country. Some 47 percent of the American workforce is female. We are as capable of decision-making as is any man, more so when it comes to control of our own bodies.
Why does this group of mostly men get to remove some of our rights? Who are these men to think they can force a rape victim to carry her rapist's child to term? Forcing an 11-year-old child who was raped or subjected to incest to carry that child is psychological, and possibly physical, abuse. Of course, in Alabama, the Republican Party is led by a woman, and the most oppressive piece of legislation in the country was sponsored by a woman. The legislation was signed into law by a woman.
Sadly, in Georgia, Ohio and Alabama -- three of the states with the most oppressive anti-abortion laws (soon to be joined by Missouri), corpses have more rights than do women and girls. That's right. No one can harvest organs from anyone who hasn't previously given consent. But it's OK to force an 11-year-old rape victim to have her rapist's child without her consent.
Isn't it the height of hypocrisy that the Republican Party -- the party that always rails against 'big government' -- is now so very concerned about controlling women's bodies that it implements draconian laws that put the government in charge of the personal decisions of half the population of the United States? And I have to wonder how many wives and mistresses of Republican legislators have had abortions? We know of a few that have already come to light, and I'm sure there are more lurking in the shadows.
These faux Christians -- despite the US Constitution's separation of church and state -- use their interpretation of Christianity to conduct their war on women. Their efforts to force their social and religious views on women must be stopped. These faux Christians certainly are not following the teaching of the real Christ. And even if they were, church and state are supposed to be separate, according to our Constitution. Churches and their followers don't get to impose their beliefs on others.
The Republican war on women isn't just about abortion, however. Oh, no, it's much broader than that. It also includes efforts to control access to reproductive health services, including birth control, It encompasses the prosecution of criminal violence against women (how about all those convicted rapists who were sentenced to probation rather than jail by an old male judge?). Don't forget their arguments about the definition of rape, their ongoing attacks on Planned Parenthood (which provides free or low-cost health care for women, birth control, and yes, abortion).
Republican lawmakers have talked about "legitimate rape." They have railed against those who believe that insurance companies must provide birth control to those who pay for health insurance, claiming in essence that women who use birth control are sluts and should pay for their own birth control. No mention was made, of course, of the fact that insurance companies routinely pay for Viagra for impotent old men.
Consider these actual quotes from Republican legislators:
- "Rape is kinda like the weather. If it's inevitable, relax and enjoy it." Republican Rep. Clayton Williams of Texas
- "Rape victims should make the best of a bad situation." Former Republican Rep. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania
- "If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to shut that thing down." Republican Rep. Todd Akin of Missouri
The Huffington Post reported in its April 23, 2016 edition that "... Republican Governor Mike Pence signed an anti-choice bill so extreme even some conservatives in the Indiana legislature voted against it. The bill could criminalize miscarriages and still-births (it isn’t really clear), and it otherwise subjects pregnant women to such a litany of harassments, humiliations and possible prosecutions that it essentially put the state in charge of all pregnant women." Pence, sadly, is now the vice-president of the United States.
I have no problem with someone being against abortion. I have no issue with opposition to birth control. Bit I DO have a real problem with the government trying to force people to live under the religious and social beliefs of others. There is a fundamental problem when some parts of the government, along with a variety of religious institutions, give more rights to a 'preborn' clump of cells than to a woman or girl who was raped. Even if the would-be mother wasn't raped, should her right to decide what happens to her body be superseded by the rights of a clump of cells?
I guarantee that if someone showed these clowns photographs of a human embryo, a cow embryo, a dog embryo, a whale embryo and a tiger embryo, not one of them could choose the human embryo from a line-up. These 'pre-born' embryos are not humans. They are not babies. Claiming they are is a huge fallacy.
Senator Kamala Harris asked this question at a Senate hearing: "Can you think of any laws that give the government power to make decisions about the male body?" Obviously the answer is 'no.' There are no such laws, and frankly, men would not stand for such laws. But Republican men, and quite a few Republican women, too, believe it's OK for the government to control what a woman or even a girl of age 11, can do with her body.
Ironically, these same all-knowing Republicans are outraged by what they perceive as Muslim men's control over Muslim women, making them wear hijabs (head scarves), etc. So Sharia law is terrible, but the faux Christian equivalent of Sharia law is to be lauded. This is nothing more than typical Republican hypocrisy.
I am well beyond the age where availability of safe abortions is a personal concern. That doesn't mean I don't care about the growing erosion of women's rights and the increase in misogyny in America.
I am pro-choice. That does not mean I am pro-abortion. I would love to see low-cost or free birth control more widely available to women. But birth control has never been 100 percent effective. I strongly believe that the decision about abortion -- indeed any decision affecting a woman's body -- should be made by the woman involved -- not by some state legislature.
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