What We're Reading This Morning -- April 25
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Last night, Mitt Romney swept all five state primaries, further solidifying his place as the Republican nominee. So it comes as no surprise that this morning, Chairman of the Republican National Committee Reince Preibus (of the attacks on women’s health are “just a fiction” fame), announced the RNC would be backing Romney. While Romney continues to secure the blessing of his party and fellow anti-women’s health cohorts, House Republicans are trying to win back favor with women voters…
Changing tactics, Republicans try to woo women with their own version of the Violence Against Women Act. “House GOP tries to blunt gender issue” – “Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) has been quietly meeting with women in the House Republican Conference to craft their own version of the Violence Against Women Act. The Senate is slated to vote on its version shortly, but the House is itching to put its imprimatur on the legislation: It will release its bill in the next week, according to several GOP leadership sources. The move shows that House Republican leadership is trying to blunt Democratic attempts to exploit gender issues in the 2012 election — something that’s gripped the Republican political narrative over the past few months. President Barack Obama has a wide lead among women voters even as House Republicans have tried to consistently make the case that their party is better on issues that have an impact on women. The reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act — known as VAWA — is the hot legislative issue in this realm on Capitol Hill. The 18-year-old law is aimed at protecting women against violent crimes and domestic abuse.”
From the Audacity of Hope to the Audacity of the Pope, Andrew Sullivan writes about the Catholic Church’s continued attacks on women’s health and the birth control benefit. “The Pope vs The President” — “They barely protested when the last president authorized torture, but the Catholic hierarchy is now determined to use what's left of its authority to organize protests this summer against their right to deny insured contraception to Catholic and non-Catholic employees in schools and hospitals. This will be their cause - not saving universal healthcare from repeal, not bringing illegal immigrants out of the shadows, not protecting the poor, but affirming that religious liberty is at stake if they cannot keep the pill from their female employees' insurance, 98 percent of whom use it at some point in their lives anyway. They are not without a genuine concern. I thought the original Obama proposal was too much. But the compromise was a reasonable fig leaf that would have allowed the Catholic hierarchs some pragmatic face-saving if they chose it - especially given the fact that universal access to healthcare is a longstanding Catholic goal. But they have chosen political warfare instead - and partisan political warfare at that. They would rather keep their power over their female employees than bring acces [sic] to healthcare to millions.”
Tensions are high in Oklahoma, where a “personhood” measure is the subject of debate. “Pressure grows on Oklahoma House Republicans to take up personhood bill” — “Backers of a personhood bill that states life begins at conception threatened Tuesday to take parliamentary steps to get the shelved measure heard on the House floor, and an anti-abortion group said it would report any House member who blocks the effort as being for abortion rights. ‘The pro-life community in Oklahoma is stunned and dismayed by the behavior of the House Republican caucus on Senate Bill 1433,’ said Kevin Calvey, vice chairman of Oklahomans for Life. ‘For those of us who are Republican, some of us worked very, very hard to bring the Republican Party in Oklahoma into the majority in the Legislature. We did this because we are pro-life. We are Republicans because we're pro-life, not the other way around. So it is extremely disconcerting then to see how it is House Republicans who are taking secret votes to kill Senate Bill 1433.’ Meanwhile, a national personhood group joined in calling for SB 1433 to be brought up on the House floor for a public vote and called on Gov. Mary Fallin to use her influence on the GOP-controlled House of Representatives to dislodge the bill, but the Republican governor is staying out of the fray, a spokesman said.”
