NYT: The War On Women

[babylonsister]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/26/opinion/26sat1.html?_r=1&hp

The War on Women
Published: February 25, 2011


Republicans in the House of Representatives are mounting an assault on women’s health and freedom that would deny millions of women access to affordable contraception and life-saving cancer screenings and cut nutritional support for millions of newborn babies in struggling families. And this is just the beginning.

The budget bill pushed through the House last Saturday included the defunding of Planned Parenthood and myriad other cuts detrimental to women. It’s not likely to pass unchanged, but the urge to compromise may take a toll on these programs. And once the current skirmishing is over, House Republicans are likely to use any legislative vehicle at hand to continue the attack.

The egregious cuts in the House resolution include the elimination of support for Title X, the federal family planning program for low-income women that provides birth control, breast and cervical cancer screenings, and testing for H.I.V. and other sexually transmitted diseases. In the absence of Title X’s preventive care, some women would die. The Guttmacher Institute, a leading authority on reproductive health, says a rise in unintended pregnancies would result in some 400,000 more abortions a year.

snip//

Their continuing resolution would cut by 10 percent the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, better known as WIC, which serves 9.6 million low-income women, new mothers, and infants each month, and has been linked in studies to higher birth weight and lower infant mortality.

The G.O.P. bill also slices $50 million from the block grant supporting programs providing prenatal health care to 2.5 million low-income women and health care to 31 million children annually. President Obama’s budget plan for next year calls for a much more modest cut.

These are treacherous times for women’s reproductive rights and access to essential health care. House Republicans mistakenly believe they have a mandate to drastically scale back both even as abortion warfare is accelerating in the states. To stop them, President Obama’s firm leadership will be crucial. So will the rising voices of alarmed Americans.

[mascarax]

1. Concentrated assault on women on the State level too

I think current count for the MN legislature, introduced so far in 2011, is:

4 anti-abortion bills
4 repealing women's pay equality bills (almost all sponsors are men, but they get at least one token woman to sponsor, e.g. 21 of 22 bills sponsors are men)
0 plan for $6.2 billion deficit (thanks to last failed governor, Tim Pawlenty)

I'm sure there's more anti-women bills...

And then there's GA with crackpots like Bobby Franklin. Who wants to know the details on any miscarriage. And if you don't have a good explanation, Bobby wants interviews of family, friends, neighbors, and passersby to ask what happened.

[Kdillard]

2. The assault has been crazy but expected once Republicans got the House.

[Raine1967]

3. Today, I will be one of those voices.

There are pro choice rallies all over the nation today, I'll be attending the one here in DC. After that, I'll be heading over to the MoveOn rally to support labor! Busy day!

[fittosurvive]

4. The actual budget numbers call for an across the board cut of 12.3%.

Clinton balanced the budget, why can't anyone else do it?

[Beacool]

5. Yeah, because Family Planning is all about providing women with abortions.

And we can't have that, no siree!!!!

:eyes:


These people make me sick.......

:puke:

[SpartanDem]

6. Part the of problem is we've become complacent

I think too many women and liberals in genrel take for granted the rights are completely oblivoius to the GOP's assualt to these rights


"The Pew poll suggests that supporters of legalized abortion may have grown complacent. Only 8 percent of those who identified themselves as liberal Democrats said abortion was a critical issue facing the country today, compared with 26 percent of conservative Republicans."



http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/02/us/02abortion.html