Republicans’ Tireless War on Women
The Republican war on women is one of attrition, and women are losing.
After yesterday’s overwhelming House vote restricting federal funding for abortion, there will be no policy change, fortunately. If the Senate even takes up the bill, they won’t pass it. And if they did, by some miracle, pass that bill, President Barack Obama has already promised to veto the draconian law.
Republicans did not lose the battle by failing to change federal policy, however. They demonstrated their strength on a unifying issue, not only voting unanimously for the bill but also pulling five Democrats over the aisle for a 251-175 vote that loudly and clearly makes this point: When the day comes for simultaneous Republican leadership of the Senate, House, and White House, among the first victims will be women.
It’s not just on Capitol Hill where Republicans are launching assaults in their war on women. Battles are breaking out in state legislatures across the country. “Nearly 1,000 anti-choice bills are advancing through Republican-controlled state houses nationwide,” Tanya Somanader reported here this afternoon. “Several states are racing to be the first state to defund Planned Parenthood, with Indiana taking the lead. In doing so, states like Indiana, Alaska, and Texas are willingly gutting other programs that help low-income women and children, chocking it up to collateral damage.” As I’ve previously written over at the Prospect’s group blog, anti-choicers are tireless zealots for their cause. Every defeat they absorb is only viewed as a temporary setback and an invitation to reassemble their forces at a later date.
Read it all at American Prospect. Most of the information will not be new to regular readers of LGF, but it’s a cogent summary of what’s been going on with lots of links. Worth the read, and worth bookmarking also.
It says a lot about today’s Republican establishment that with the economy in the crapper, taking rights away from women is their top priority— and that they think this will be a hit with their base.