If you read my government blog, you can probably figure out
that women’s issues, particularly those pertaining to this election, are of
particular interest to me. So I tend to get fired up when I consistently hear
how this so-called GOP “war on women” is a farce, something made up by liberals
to make the GOP look bad and take the focus off of President Obama’s failures.
Wow…really? The GOP appears to have made it their mission to force their
beliefs on all of us, especially women. They believe they know what is best for
us, best for our bodies, and best for our lives. And why shouldn’t they? After
all, these men are unbelievably knowledgeable about all things female. For
instance: I think we have all heard that Rep. Todd Akin (MO) knows that women’s
bodies have ways of “shutting down” to prevent pregnancy from legitimate rape. Richard
Mourdock (IN), a Senate candidate, has determined that pregnancies that occur
as a result of rape are “intended by God.” GOP Vice Presidential candidate Rep.
Paul Ryan (WI) supports (and that word is a stretch) abortion only in cases
where the mother’s life is at risk (wow, thank you for being so kind in
considering that our life is important, too.) Rep. Joe Walsh (IL) believes
there should be NO abortion exception when the mother’s life is at risk because
as a result of modern science, women never die from pregnancy. (WHERE are
these guys getting their information from??) And Rush Limbaugh basically said
that women who use birth control are sluts (ha! I must have missed that on the
list of possible side effects…”WARNING: may cause slutty behavior”). And you
guys say the Democrats are making you look bad?
Hey guys, how about this…how about we leave the very
personal decisions of family planning up to women and their doctors? How about
admitting that you will never understand what it is to be a woman. That you
will never know what it is like to become pregnant, whether by choice or as a
result of rape or incest. That sometimes a choice to terminate a pregnancy IS
in the best interest of a fetus that has not developed correctly and either
will not survive or will have limited quality of life and that the choice to
terminate that pregnancy is a gut-wrenching decision that is actually made out
of love, not selfishness. That pregnancies CAN kill a woman…my mom had two ectopic pregnancies and almost died from the second one. How about accepting the fact that women who take
birth control (for the actual purpose of birth control) are actually being
responsible and that women REALLY DO take birth control pills for other medical
reasons (a concept that many of them seem to find hard to grasp).
But of course, I'm just a woman. What do I really know...
2 comments:
Abortion has been a polarizing topic for decades. Conservatives think a fetus is a human therefore an abortion is murder and Liberals think that women have the right to make the decision for an abortion. Even Libertarians, which are individuals that favor individual freedom to make choices as long these choices don’t impede on someone else’s rights. Well some Conservative Libertarians argue that abortion does impede on someone’s rights since a fetus is a human being. One prime example of a pro-life Libertarian is Ron Paul.
I agree with all the points the author brought up in the post. GOP tries to oppose upon us things that are morally right for us. How do they know what is right for us? We are individuals and only an individual knows what is right for themselves. Don’t The Bill of Rights focus on individual liberties? And it seems the GOP tries to limit freedom of choice. Women just like Men have the right to choose what’s best for their bodies. The GOP says that a fetus is a human and an abortion is a killing of innocent life, but on the other hand they strongly are in favor of the death penalty. You might be thinking, but yeah there is a difference between an innocent fetus getting murdered and a death row inmate that is a vicious killer. Like it says in the bible, An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Well, there are few executed inmates like. Carlos Deluna, that evidences points towards their innocence, but since defense attorneys rather spend time defending death row inmates that could be saved not finding the innocence of ones that were executed. We will probably never know if they are truly innocent.
Another point brought up is birth control. One of the things this country is lacking in general is individual responsibility. It’s the individual’s responsibility to plan when to have a child and raise that child. Not the GOP telling women what’s morally right and what beliefs well should impose on our children. Celibacy or some kind of birth control are signs of responsibility.
What does GOP think about a woman’s role? To me it seems like they think that all women should be stay at home moms with no say what so ever about the household. This is a step back. I’m pro-choice regardless of any factor such as race, gender or social status just to name a few.
Well said! I completely agree with this post, and applaud you for wording it so well. I’m forever mystified by women supporting a party so actively antagonistic towards them. I was absolutely disgusted when I heard Akin insist that our bodies have the ability to “just shut that whole thing down” in a case of “legitimate” rape. Seriously? I guess only white males are privy to the secrets and mysteries of the female body. And you also need to divine what “legitimate rape” is according to a member of the GOP…because it seems that they feel most women are “asking to be raped” by doing anything that accentuates or celebrates their femininity or sexuality.
Rush Limbaugh is a different bin of manure entirely. When I heard him proclaim that any woman who uses birth control is a slut, I was flabbergasted. Part of me thinks he said it solely for ratings because surely, *surely* no one can be enough of an idiot to not understand the full range of what birth control does. Certainly, it can be quite useful in preventing pregnancy. It can also be amazingly useful in managing conditions such as polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), irregular or painful menstruation, endometriosis, and certain hormonal imbalances. I guess all these women who wish to lower their risk of ovarian and endometrial cancer must be tremendous sluts…either that, or Mr. Limbaugh didn’t do his research. Guess which option I’m betting on. Do these people not even consider doing research?
The fact that the GOP claims the war on women is a falsehood is absolutely ridiculous to me. In Arizona, legislation was passed that effectively removes any rights a woman has over her reproductive system. Guess who sponsored that legislation? A Republican. Personally, I believe that abortion is an option that all women should have available to them. I don’t know if it is something I could do, but I’ve known women in situations where it was the only option. No woman should ever be forced to carry a child to term when it is medically known that the fetus is not viable and will not survive beyond birth. The decision to terminate a pregnancy is often one that haunts women who have had to make that choice. My mother was forced to undergo two abortions before I was born due to her age and it was an experience which tormented her to her dying day. Though some women do use termination as a birth control method, many women do not and they certainly don’t take it lightly.
“How about admitting that you will never understand what it is to be a woman. That you will never know what it is like to become pregnant, whether by choice or as a result of rape or incest.” This is absolutely correct and males in any kind of policy-making position should heed these words. I don’t believe men should have any kind of say in what a female can and should do with her body. A man will never ever *ever* understand what it is to be pregnant. A man will never understand the physical toll a pregnancy can take on a body. A man will never understand the heartbreak of finding out your baby will not survive to term. A man will never understand what it’s like to carry a child as a consequence of unwanted sexual violence. Certainly, some men might be able to understand on a conceptual level, and some may be able to sympathize…but they will never be able to empathize with any of those positions. Honestly, I believe the time and energy of the GOP would be better spent doing some ACTUAL good for the citizens of our country instead of treating the sexuality of women like some nuclear arms threat. Seriously, boys…I promise we won’t turn into terrifying amazons and wreak havoc on your little card houses if you leave our ovaries unattended.
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