Ladies Of Uncommon Courage

To say that abortion is a divisive issue would be a gross understatement. Abortion clinics have been bombed, doctors performing abortions have been killed, and women seeking abortions have been threatened. So it is not just the embarrassment of revealing an intimate detail of their lives or the possible political consequences of doing so that congress members Cori Bush, Barbara Lee, and Pramila Jayapal risked when they bared their souls to tell us about the abortions they had. And yet those courageous women willingly suffered that embarrassment and took those risks because they quite correctly believe that a woman should have control over her body and her reproductive system.

I like to think that I am compassionate and empathetic, but I know that there is no way I or any other man can really understand what a woman who chooses to terminate a pregnancy is going through. What I do know is that it is something a woman never forgets. To state the obvious, the physical, mental, and emotional health of women is important. So while I may not be able to fully understand what women feel, I do listen. I also try to be supportive, particularly when they are making decisions that only they can or should make.

Now is the time to listen to those courageous congresswomen! Now is the time to support the cause that they and their sisters champion! Celebrate the courage of those congresswomen by writing your member of congress and your senators to tell them that the protections of Roe v. Wade must be guaranteed by legislation. While it is her body and her choice, the right to an abortion is a health issue and a quality life issue that has an impact on males as well as females. This is too important to stand on the side lines, gentlemen!

Don’t Insult The Broads!

Now that I have the attention of the Republican sensitivity trainers who are trying to teach gorillas how to talk to women, let me say that talking to women is not that difficult if you are not a gorilla.  You do not have to put things in emotional terms or walk on eggshells to avoid offending them.  Contrary to the assertions and desires of nostalgic right wing fact deniers, our paternalistic society is history.  In fact, I would go so far as to say that the only people promoting the stereotypes men used to justify a  paternalistic attitude towards women are the reactionaries who are still waging a war against most of the social and scientific advancements we made during the last half of the twentieth century.  What everyone should have learned by now is that women are as professional and logical as men are, and that they correctly demand the same respect that men demand.  Sorry guys, but talkin’ purty ain’t gonna get her.  She wants the respect and support of a partner rather than the protection of a boss.  Tell her “father knows best” and the finger she is likely to display will not be the one sporting a wedding band.

My point is that what women really object to are the ignorant and destructive attitudes expressed by the words that are getting so many men in trouble.  Even more to the point, women object to the actions resulting from those attitudes.  A man who talks about legitimate rape is nothing more than an ignoramus and a bad joke unless his actions are as harmful as his words suggest.  Legislators who use the power of the state to restrict the choices a woman can make regarding reproduction and reproductive health are very harmful indeed.  No argument is going to mitigate that harm or convince women that the state is looking out for them when it refuses to let them exercise their own good judgment.  This is big government at its worst!  And how in the hell can you justify paying women less than a man for the SAME WORK?

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Republicans are going to have to change more than their words.  A wet kiss on the ear (or an ear douche, which is badly needed but insufficient after listening to Rush Limbaugh) will not work either.  Women are not that gullible; they are alert to the GOP’s attempts to subvert their rights, and they are responding accordingly.  Nothing short of a change in attitude and policy will bring women back to the Republican Party.

Misogynistic Hypocrisy!

Leave it to Rush Limbaugh. The most cogent argument for providing affordable birth control is that some of the forms of birth control are used as a treatment for health problems. That is in fact what Sandra Fluke described so well. In ignoring her argument and launching his crude attack on her Mr. Limbaugh was not merely playing the part of a vulgar entertainer. Instead, he was trying to redefine the issue. He was saying in the crudest possible way that women should not have control over their own reproductive systems. Does this mean he thinks that sanctimonious men like Rick Santorum should be able to inflict on all of us an extreme moral code we rejected long ago? Does Mr. Limbaugh think women should be kept barefoot and pregnant? Does he expect couples to have nine kids when providing for two or three children is so difficult? It is Rush Limbaugh’s inability to see or admit the consequences of what he is advocating that makes him so dangerous. He is perfectly happy to apply the double standard by saying that single women should put an aspirin between their knees, the implication being that women who have premarital sex deserve whatever happens to them. He does not give a damn about the damage caused by such an attitude. Stirring up the right wing idiots that listen to his show is good for his ratings, and he is all about the ratings.

The problem is that Mr. Limbaugh’s listeners comprise such a large part of the Republican base that he is considered the unofficial spokesman for the Republican Party. His comments would be disturbing under any circumstances, but they are downright frightening when placed in the context of the radical social agenda the Republicans are pursuing. In states where the Republicans control the government they are passing punitive laws that punish women who seek abortions regardless of the reason for the abortion. They are doing this by requiring unnecessary ultrasounds. In some states, such as Virginia, they are trying to make the ultrasound as invasive and demeaning as possible by requiring the kind that involves a vaginal probe. In many states the Republicans are also proposing personhood laws that would outlaw the very birth control methods most frequently used to treat health problems. On the federal level the Republican controlled House of Representatives de-funded Planned Parenthood, which provides the only health care available to a large number of women. The Republicans have also joined with some Catholic Bishops to oppose the birth control provisions in what the GOP calls Obama care. The Republicans argue that an employer should be able to deny insurance coverage for anything he or she finds morally objectionable. The Republicans claim they are defending religious freedom, but Rush Limbaugh showed what this is really about when he threw that argument into the gutter. By calling Ms. Fluke a slut and a prostitute he ripped the mask off the sanctimony to reveal the misogynistic hypocrisy behind the Republican Party’s attacks on women’s rights.

This is not an issue of religious freedom. This is about the separation of church and state, the availability of health care and contraception, and the freedom to plan families and careers. This is about the Republicans trying to create a government that is far more intrusive than the big government they say they are trying to keep out of our lives. Women are as moral and smart as men are. They do not need the government or an employer to protect them from themselves. They do not need a state government forcing them to undergo unnecessary ultrasounds in order to make informed decisions about something as traumatic as an abortion. They do not need an employer depriving them of affordable birth control. I know the argument I am presenting here is not the strongest political argument, but I am not going to play the game of saying that health care is the only reason to provide affordable birth control coverage. Freedom is far too important to restrict the argument in such a manner. Religious conservatives can preach and moralize as much as they want; that is their right, and I will defend it. Like most men, I will also fight to prevent those, so called, conservatives from depriving women of the rights they have struggled so hard to obtain. This is not strictly a gender issue. This is a quality of life issue for all people. Both women and men have a lot to lose if the Republicans get their way. I am confident that the people of this nation will reject the big, intrusive government the Republicans are trying to impose upon us. Most of us thought this issue had been decided thirty or forty years ago. That we should have to fight this battle again shows just how extreme and dangerous the Republican Party has become.