10 Shocking Attacks from the GOP's War on Women
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 could make 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 to eliminate 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).
Sources:
1. "'Forcible Rape' Language Remains In Bill To Restrict Abortion Funding," The Huffington Post, Feb. 9, 2011
"Extreme Abortion Coverage Ban Introduced," Center for American Progress, Jan. 20, 2011
2. "Georgia State Lawmaker Seeks To Redefine Rape Victims As 'Accusers,'" The Huffington Post, Feb. 4, 2011
3. "South Dakota bill would legalize killing abortion doctors," Salon, Feb. 15, 2011
4. "House GOP Proposes Cuts to Scores of Sacred Cows," National Journal, Feb. 9, 2011
5. "New GOP Bill Would Allow Hospitals To Let Women Die Instead Of Having An Abortion," Talking Points Memo, Feb. 4, 2011
6. "Republican Officials Cut Head Start Funding, Saying Women Should be Married and Home with Kids," Think Progress, Feb. 16, 2011
7. "Bye Bye, Big Bird. Hello, E. Coli," The New Republic, Feb. 12, 2011
8. "House GOP spending cuts will devastate women, families and economy," The Hill, Feb. 16, 2011
9. "House passes measure stripping Planned Parenthood funding," MSNBC, Feb. 18,2011
"GOP Spending Plan: X-ing Out Title X Family Planning Funds," WSJ, Feb. 9, 2011
10. Ibid. "Birth Control for Horses, Not for Women," Blog for Choice, February 17, 2011
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This is really quite awful. It feels like the Stone-Age all over again... and I remember it well. I remember when women I knew in college had to leave the country to abort a pregnancy; the ones with more money went to Sweden, the ones with less money went to Puerto Rico. This kind of bullsh:t can't still be going on. Where are all the women in Congress? Oh, wait, there are hardly any. Who are these people who would do -- or even consider -- these hideous ideas? Oh, right --- The Family. Do I need to worry about this? I'm so agitated I can hardly breathe.
During the lost years (2000-2008), Everything was awful and wrong and scary all the time and we knew it. Well, I did. Now, we have a President I can actually stand -- and respect -- one that I even voted for (only the 4th time in my whole life). Wait... no, never mind, I'm not going to solve that math problem just now. What I want is to know if I'm being paranoid, is this group just pulling my strings to get me to be afraid and contribute, or is this a creditable threat? None of these ideas will get out of Congress and if they somehow did, they'd fail in the courts. Still, what a nuisance, what a bother, what a disgrace to know there are people who think like this running our government. Yuck. Wait. Maybe these some of groups can help...
I'm tired of praying for the dead.
