Republicans continue to say they don’t have to change their core principles, they only have to change the language they use to get their message out. One perception they want to alter is the idea that they are running a “war on women”. Looking at the news over the past few years, I’d say the Republican Party has a long way to go on this subject.
- Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky): “Talk about a manufactured issue. There is no issue.”
- RNC Chairman Reince Priebus: “It’s a fiction.”
The Michigan Front
the facts and commentary: On Wednesday, the Michigan legislature passed the Abortion Insurance Opt-Out Act. This act removes abortion coverage from all private health insurance policies sold in the state of Michigan.
I don't see how they can call this an "opt-out" bill since there is no option offered--it is simply "out" no matter what a woman or her family would prefer.The act makes no exception for rape or incest. Any woman who wants abortion coverage will have to purchase an additional rider at her own expense. Currently, 80% of private health insurance policies cover abortion services.
The legislature passed a similar bill last year, but it was vetoed by Governor Rick Snyder (R) who said he did not "believe it is appropriate to tell a woman who becomes pregnant due to a rape that she needed to select elective insurance coverage."
While I applaud his opinion on pregnancy resulting from rape, I wish he had gone further by saying it is inappropriate to tell a woman facing any unwanted pregnancy, no matter its origin, that she should have purchased coverage "just in case."This year, the anti-abortion group Right to Life of Michigan collected enough signatures to force another look at the bill. Once again, the bill passed both chambers and, because it was a voter initiative, it does not require the governor's signature and he cannot veto it. The Abortion Insurance Opt-Out Act will become law in Michigan next year.
Opponents of the new law call the requirement to purchase an abortion rider "rape insurance", saying that women will now have to plan ahead for the possibility of being raped in order to have coverage for a resulting pregnancy.
"This tells women who were raped...that they should have thought ahead and planned for it. Make no mistake, this is anything but a citizens' initiative. It's a special interest group's perverted dream come true," said Senate Minority Leader Gretchen Whitmer (D).
Right to Life of Michigan was able to force the legislative vote by gathering 300,000 voter signatures. That seems like a lot until you consider that there are approximately 6.8 million registered voters in that state.
Because the legislature had passed a similar bill last year, the outcome of a legislative vote was a foregone conclusion once the required signatures were collected. Had the legislature opted to put the measure to a state ballot vote, (which they could have done), the outcome was not so clear cut. A recent poll showed 47% of Michigan voters opposed the restriction, 41% approved and 12% were undecided.
So basically, a legislature with a slim Republican majority and where 80% of the members are men, have done the bidding of a small but vocal group of social conservatives, without allowing the rest of the state's electorate to voice their approval or dissent.
By choosing not to present the bill to all Michigan voters, the legislature, following the lead of this small percentage of citizens, has decided on its own to tell every Michigan woman that when it comes to make what should be a completely personal and private decision, they, the Republican led legislature will be in the room with her. They have decided that what, under federal law, is a woman's right of choice, will now, in Michigan, become a privilege that must be purchased.
The Republican War on Women is "fiction"?
WHAT YOU DO SPEAKS SO LOUDLY
THAT I CANNOT HEAR WHAT YOU SAY.
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