Crossposted from DemocraticDiva.com
I crosspost what I post at Democratic Diva over at Blog for Arizona, and a lot (not all by any means but a lot) of what I blog about is reproductive rights. I do so because I pay close attention to the issue as it’s something I care deeply about and consider hugely important but also because I assume that anyone who pays only a modicum of attention to US and Arizona politics has noticed how intent anti-choice activists and their allies in the Republican party have been on ruthlessly attacking women’s reproductive rights. These attacks take a variety of legal forms – arbitrary late term bans, waiting periods, TRAP laws, attempts to defund Planned Parenthood, so-called “conscience clauses”, the Hobby Lobby SCOTUS decision, women actually being prosecuted for stillbirth and miscarriages, etc. – and I don’t expect the average person to be up on all of them. I would expect, however, expect the average person who is motivated to comment on a liberal political blog to be aware of at least some of them. But apparently this is too much to expect, as I have Blog for AZ commenters informing me that Roe v Wade settled everything in perpetuity and that abortion and contraception will always be available. Okay.
Another way women are being attacked relentlessly, and publicly, is through the rhetoric of prominent and influential figures such as Rush Limbaugh – who spent the better part of a week screaming how a college student was a slut because she wanted to testify before Congress about the need for birth control coverage – and Congressman Todd Akin, who claimed, and continues to claim, that victims of “legitimate rape” couldn’t get pregnant. There have been other outbursts from conservative pundits and politicians too numerous to account. Misogyny? What misogyny? (I have helpfully provided those links for the benefit of commenters who are perhaps as unaware of prominent right wingers saying awful things about women and our reproductive rights in the past few years as they are of the legislative attacks on our rights.)
With that said, and all due respect and humble apologies (not really) to those who may be annoyed that I’m blogging about my pet cause yet again, I bring you today’s edition of my overheated lady imagination conjuring up…oh wait, no…this really happened (read the whole thing):
“You put me in charge of Medicaid, the first thing I’d do is get Norplant, birth-control implants, or tubal ligations,” he said.
Russell Pearce – you all know who he is, right? – is currently the Vice Chair of the Arizona GOP and holds a cushy sinecure with Maricopa County while collecting generous pensions from positions he retired from. He was a big fetus-fetishist while in the AZ Senate, voting 100% with the AZ Right to Life crowd, so it may seem odd that he’d advocate for forced sterilization. Well, kittens, I’m here to tell you that anti-choice authoritarians are hellbent on getting their grabby tentacles in all aspects of people’s private lives and reproduction. For the subset of them who are racially motivated – no, not all anti-choicers want only more white babies born but some do and Pearce is most definitely in that category – that means that “certain people” will be forcibly prevented from procreating if they have their way. This has happened, in this country, so it’s no minor thing for someone like Russell Pearce to say that on the radio.
Attacks on women’s reproductive rights are no joke and, in all seriousness, I am damn tired of having to explain to people that, yes, this shit is actually happening. Consider this your last Pro-Choice 101 post. Any and all comments denying or minimizing this issue get deleted, henceforth.
Surprising that a Mormon would discourage reproduction. Perhaps they need to cut him loose for apostasy ?
I agree with Steve. Don’t allow your frustration to limit discussion on this vital topic. I, too, have been talking about the very real possibility of women losing their access to reproductive health care, in every form. I would take your points one step further, Russell Pearce and his crowd would force every white women to become pregnant. The Handmaid’s Tale come to life.
I am long past having to be concerned on my own behalf, about abortion and contraception. I am alarmed at the number of young women who have no idea how much they stand to lose and what it is at stake. I repost your work as well as many others on my Facebook page and many of these young women talk to me about my posts. We cannot give up the fight and we be silent. Silence is the voice of complicity.
Donna, I have assumed – perhaps incorrectly – that a primary purpose of Blog for Arizona was to create awareness and stir discussion on important subjects. Based on the responses to this particular posting, you were VERY successful at getting people to think about women’s reproductive rights and how important it is NOT to take them for granted. You have every reason to feel frustrated by many of the responses you received, but you stirred up one of the best discussions I have seen here in a long time. You made a lot of people think about it that obviously hadn’t throught about it in a while. I would request that you do not allow your frustration to cause you to self censor on the subject. It is an important subject and people need to be reminded regularly how difficult it was to get where we are today. Please keep that arrow in your quiver for future blogs.