This is the thirty-fifth in a series of articles on the subjects of women, abortion rights and the Republican Party.
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 Ohio Front
The following Op-Ed piece was published yesterday in the Toledo Blade.
(Any underlines are mine.)
The (Senate) bill is before the more-extreme House, where it has the votes to pass. It would deny state and federal funding to any organization that performs abortions, even if the money is used to pay for unrelated services. It also would prevent public schools from partnering with Planned Parenthood to provide sex education.Partnering with a faith-based organization for school mentoring programs in Ohio is, however, required. Can Gov. John Kasich (R) and his Republican buddies in the legislature be any more obvious in their prejudices?
Gov. John Kasich, who passes for a moderate in his Republican Party and cites his achievements in advancing health-care access for Ohioians, (except for women--women should only be permitted health choices that have been vetted by Governor Kasich and his minions), has said he wants to "fight like crazy" to defund Planned Parenthood.
Planned Parenthood reports that it saw more than 50,000 patients during nearly 100,000 visits in Ohio last year. The vast majority of these visits were for wellness checks, family planning, tests for sexually transmitted diseases, and cancer screenings.
Abortions accounted for 2 percent of its services. These didn't receive public funding, because Ohio law already prohibits state funds from being used to pay for abortion...But by all means, Mr. Kasich, "fight like crazy" to add another completely unnecessary law to block Ohio women from exercising their right to make personal decisions for themselves and their families.
...To defend their extreme proposals, lawmakers disingenuously claim that the funding they cut from Planned Parenthood would be redistributed to other health-care providers. But for many of the organization's poor patients, especially in remote regions of the state, comparable medical options don't exist...As I wrote in June of this year, John Kasich already passed a budget that cuts funding for rural clinics by over 40 percent. "The GOP seems willing to let women with breast or cervical cancer die under the auspices of their women's health ideals. And John Kasich's tunnel vision apparently sees the loss of services for women who come to Family Health Services for prenatal care as collateral damage in the war against abortion rights. The GOP's willingness to sacrifice some rural mothers-to-be in their fight to save another woman's fetus would seem to fly in the face of their "we're only doing this to protect women's health" argument, not that logic has ever played a prominent role in this war."
...Advocates of reality-based health policy shouldn't have to turn to the legal system to fight dangerous laws that Ohioans oppose. Citizens ought to make that clear to their elected officials, and then vote accordingly.I'd go further and say every woman and man in this country should ask if they really want to put the healthcare of American women in the hands of a man who has made it clear he doesn't respect them. And vote accordingly.
You can read the entire Toledo Blade editorial here.
The Republican War on Women is "fiction?"
WHAT YOU DO SPEAKS SO LOUDLY
THAT I CANNOT HEAR WHAT YOU SAY.
No comments:
Post a Comment