What We're Reading This Morning -- May 21
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Good morning, everyone! It’s a rainy Monday here in Washington, D.C., but that doesn’t mean it’s quiet. Here’s what we’re reading this morning…
Cecile Richards says states like Texas and Arizona show us just how dangerous a Romney presidency would be for women. “Planned Parenthood [Action Fund]’s Cecile Richards: Romney Puts Women’s Lives at Risk” – “If you want to see what women’s health care in America will be like if Mitt Romney becomes president, just look at Texas and Arizona. Both states are in the news these past few weeks for trying to prevent women from getting health care at Planned Parenthood. It’s wrong, and it will have devastating consequences for women for years to come — and Mitt Romney wants to do it in all 50 states. Romney said in November that he wants to eliminate the nation’s family-planning program, which was signed into law by President Richard Nixon in 1970 and provides essential preventive health services to more than 5 million people a year, the vast majority of whom are poor and uninsured. Beyond the millions of people who are helped by this health-care program, investing in family planning saves the government money — for every dollar spent on family planning, experts say taxpayers save around $4.”
It's hard to deny the pattern of attacks on women's health and pocketbooks after reading this piece. Women’s rights are being attacked across the board, whether it’s about equal pay, access to health care, or even domestic violence. “The Campaign Against Women” – “Despite the persistent gender gap in opinion polls and mounting criticism of their hostility to women’s rights, Republicans are not backing off their assault on women’s equality and well-being. New laws in some states could mean a death sentence for a pregnant woman who suffers a life-threatening condition. But the attack goes well beyond abortion, into birth control, access to health care, equal pay and domestic violence. Republicans seem immune to criticism. In an angry speech last month, John Boehner, the House speaker, said claims that his party was damaging the welfare of women were ‘entirely created’ by Democrats. Earlier, the Republican National Committee chairman, Reince Priebus, sneered that any suggestion of a G.O.P. “war on women” was as big a fiction as a ‘war on caterpillars.’ But just last Wednesday, Mr. Boehner refuted his own argument by ramming through the House a bill that seriously weakens the Violence Against Women Act. That followed the Republican push in Virginia and elsewhere to require medically unnecessary and physically invasive sonograms before an abortion, and Senate Republicans’ persistent blocking of a measure to better address the entrenched problem of sex-based wage discrimination.”
On the last day of session in 2012, Missouri lawmakers passed a bill that would let employers deny coverage for birth control. “Are Missouri lawmakers at war with women?” – “JEFFERSON CITY • On a recent Saturday, more than 200 people — most of them women — marched to the state Capitol. Many carried signs that read ‘Stop the War’ and ‘Unite Against the War on Women.’ The ‘war on women,’ as it has been dubbed nationally, served as a call to arms for Democrats in Missouri this legislative session, where bills that would make it harder for women to get abortions, and in some cases contraception, seemed to pass with ease through the House and gain traction in the Senate. ‘This legislative body has made many attempts this session to direct the lives of women — to take control and say what women can do and can't do,’ Rep. Margo McNeil, D-Florissant, said during one of the many heated debates on the House floor over women's issues. ‘We need to get away from that direction.’ But women on the other side of the aisle disagree…. On the last day of the 2012 session, lawmakers passed a bill that will allow employers to deny paying for health care coverage for any service to which they morally object. While the effort is seen as a clear swipe at abortion, opponents say the bill also will create a burden for women who want access to birth control. ‘We're telling (women) that their employer knows better about family planning than they do,’ said Rep. Stacey Newman, D-St. Louis.”
