War on Women

Powers for the People: Pamela Powers Hannley Seeks LD9 House Seat

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Pamela Powers Hannley
Pamela Powers Hannley, MPH

Yes, indeed, as has been hinted on this blog, I am running for the Arizona House to serve Legislative District 9.

No, I don’t need a psychiatric evaluation.

I’m running because I’m tired of government against the people. I am running for the Arizona Legislature because I want to bring back government of the people, by the people and for the people. Republican Party policies have starved the Arizona economy and thrown many citizens into financial ruin.

GOP leaders bow to dark money donors and ignore the needs of Arizona workers. They have repeatedly cut taxes for the 1% and for corporations, while allowing the people of Arizona to toil away for chronically low wages, that are well below national standards. Their policies have hindered Arizona’s competitiveness by allowing our roads and bridges to crumble and by whittling away k-12 education, vocational education, community colleges, and universities.

Arizona has been stuck in a ditch since the Tea Party took over in 2010. It’s time to take back our government, end austerity policies that are hurting Arizona families, and get back on the road to prosperity.

My slogan is “Powers for the People” because I will work for you… real people… not for corporate people. I am proud to run as a Clean Elections candidate because I believe voters– not money– should decide who runs our country.

I am running on a platform that focuses on ending wasteful spending, raising revenue, and saving money to fund jobs, infrastructure, and education. Learn more after the jump.

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choice

Republicans Have a Problem with Women (video)

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The Republican Party doesn’t realize what all husbands know: Women have legendary memories. We know where your socks are, and we know who our friends are.

The Party of NO— no leaders, no ideas, no morals, and no action– is not a friend of women. Since the Tea Party astroturf revolution of 2010:

  • Hundreds of bills restricting the rights of women and forcing women to have unnecessary, invasive medical procedures have been passed by red state legislatures, including Arizona’s;
  • 100% of the Republicans in the US Senate have voted against paycheck fairness for women;
  • 100% of the Arizona Republican legislators and statewide leaders– including their candidate for governor, Doug Ducey– signed a fetal personhood pledge to fight for the rights of fetuses over the rights of women;
  • 100% of Republicans in Congress and the Arizona Legislature would deny women equal rights under the US Constitution by continuing to block passage of the Equal Rights Amendment;
  • 0% of Republican candidates have announced their support for raising the minimum wage and wage discrimination against women;
  • Women and children are murdered everyday because Republicans in the US Senate– including Arizona Senators John McCain and Jeff Flake– blocked common sense gun laws proposed after the Sandy Hook Massacre;

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Fact Check: McSally ‘Equality’ Ad & Website Reveal Flip-flopping

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Congressional candidate Martha McSally stands with white women.
Congressional candidate Martha McSally stands with young, white women.

When Congressional candidate Martha McSally ran for Congress in 2012, she was full Tea Party:

  • militarize the border
  • protect the military industrial complex
  • fight for big business and small government
  • balance the budget on the backs of the middle class and the poor
  • repeal and replace Obamacare;
  • fight for the “sanctity of life” (because of her deep faith in God)
  • ignore the civil rights struggles of workers, women, immigrants, people of color, the poor, and LGBTQ.

Fast forward to 2014, and we find that Tea Party Martha with her flight pants, t-shirts, and natural hairdo has morphed into Corporate Republican Martha, with a complete makeover of her ideas and her image. God, the sanctity of life, repeal and replace, and War on Women denials have quietly slipped off of McSally’s campaign website.

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hanger

Restricting Access to Care Will Kill American Women, Children

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DIY abortions will increase as women's rights decrease.
DIY abortions will increase as women’s rights decrease.

Today, five men on the US Supreme Court ruled that closely held, for-profit businesses can deny birth control coverage to women employees on the grounds that the corporate person’s religious freedom has been somehow diminished.

The SCOTUS decision on two cases– Burwell vs Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood Specialities vs Burwell– is just the most recent assault on women’s rights and reproductive freedom.

In recent years, hundreds of bills passed by red state legislatures have chipped away at women’s rights to the extent that lives will be lost as more women are denied access to affordable contraception, women’s health services, and legal abortions. Although the south has been particularly hard hit, many states (including Arizona) have been working diligently to restrict access by burdening clinics with unnecessary regulations. Republicans in Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana are shutting down nearly all of their clinics.  Ohio Republicans want to stop women from using IUDs— one of the most effective forms of birth control.

In many states, women now are forced to drive hundreds of miles to have legal abortions or  drive to Mexico for a dangerous backroom deal or buy do-it-yourself drugs at flea markets or have children they cannot physically, financially or emotionally care for. Several states that have curtailed women’s health services– like Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, Oklahoma, and Louisana–  have not expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. These Republican strategies will result in pre-mature death– especially for poor women and their children.

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