War on women

Lately I've had a few things on my mind. Mostly dealing with politics so here it goes. As I watch the Republican primary play out and see what Republicans in Congress and around the country are trying to push through in legislation I worry that if they gain power in 2012 (or really in the near future) my rights not only as a woman but also as a minority will go back to what they were in the 1950s and earlier. I honestly feel like if they gained control I will legally have to get back on my hands and knees, scrubbing the floors and cleaning up after my parents and if I refuse I will be hanged from a tree and whipped.

Why do I say that?!? Well, look at just a few of the things Republicans have talked about lately. There is at least one Republican candidate who says contraceptives are wrong. Women throughout the country use contraceptives not only to help prevent pregnancy but also for medical reasons. Yet, in a Republican hearing about the use of contraceptives in religious institutions they had a panel of ALL males! And when the Democratic women on the panel asked why there were no women the Republican chairman said he did not think women were qualified!!! So the Democrats held a hearing today with one woman. A woman who talked about how her friend was denied coverage for her birth control because the employer (in this case the catholic school she attended) thought she was using it for pregnancy purposes when she and her doctor both said she was using it for medical reasons. Because they denied her coverage, she stopped taking her meds. She ended up growing a large tumor on her ovaries and had to have one of them removed. This woman is in her early 30s I believe. Now she's at risk of having early menopause along with other medical conditions that could be detrimental to her health. Not only that but now it will be HARDER for her to have children if/when she chooses to do so.

Next example...in Virginia, Republicans are trying to pass two pieces of legislation. One that MANDATES women receive a trans-vaginial probe AGAINST THEIR WILL if they want to have an abortion. According to Virginia law and the FBI definition, that would constitute as rape! Republicans rail against the Affordable Care Act (or what they like to call Obamacare) as being unconstitutional because of the mandate of requiring people to buy health insurance, which by the way I would think they would like so taxpayers aren't fronting the bill for every person without health insurance who goes to the emergency room, yet they are perfectly fine mandating a medically UNNECESSARY procedure for a woman. Oh wait, in the 90s they DID like mandates it was just when President Obama approved of it they decided they were against it! Anyway, luckily in that case the governor said he would veto it but that was after he was the person who pushed for it to begin with. He also wants to be on the Republican vice presidential ticket so that's probably why he decided against it; however, the Republican legislature still wants to push the bill. The other Virginia bill would allow adoption agencies to deny couples the right to ADOPT not only based on if they were in a same-sex relationship but also based on RACE, SEX, GENDER, POLITICAL VIEWS AND FINANCIAL STATUS. So, if a case worker was racist, I could be denied the ability to have children in Virginia. If the case worker was anti-woman, I could be denied a child. If the case worker was a conservative/Republican I could be denied a child. If the case worker were rich, I could be denied the ability to have a child.

The party of small government sure has a funny way of showing it when they want to deny people the right to marry whomever they love huh?!? They have a funny way of showing it when they want to mandate I be probed against my will if i CHOOSE to have an abortion for a reason that should be left to ME!

This is just the beginning of what has been irking me lately but I had to vent. I know some people who read this aren't liberal or Democrats and might not agree with me, but I hope this opens the eyes of even some of those people. I get the economy and jobs are the biggest things voters around the country and maybe you are concerned about, but that is not what the Republicans seem to be focusing on. It is important that people do not just start paying attention a month or two before the election. These are the type of issues that people should pay attention to and remember when choosing candidates. When these Republicans got into office they didn't campaign on any of these things. They campaigned on the economy and jobs. Yet once they entered office they turned to anti-abortion, anti-worker and now anti-women pieces of legislation. They stopped focusing on the economy and started focusing on social issues that like I said, have me seriously afraid to be who I am.