Since science has not yet figured out how someone can be in two places at the same time, I was unable to attend the LD 9 House Debate Monday night moderated by Jim Nintzel of the Tucson Weekly. Our “Woman of Steele” Rep. Victoria Steele and super-hero Doctor Randall Friese debated the mythical moderate Republican Ethan Orr aka “E.Orr.” From what I have heard from those who were in attendance, E.Orr got served. I look forward to the Weekly’s write-up for the details of this debate.
The Arizona Daily Star also attended the debate (shock!) but so far the only reporting is reporter Joe Ferguson’s tweets of the debate last night. Let’s focus on this exchange regarding the abortion bill for surprise, warrantless searches of abortion clinics, HB 2284, from Cathi Herrod and the Center for Arizona Policy. (The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down a similar law in 2004. The Court ruled that the statute’s authorization of “warrantless, unbounded inspections of their offices” violated constitutional protections against unreasonable search and seizure):
E.Orr is attempting to deflect from the GOP’s war on women, using a tack similar to what we have seen from Tea-Publicans elsewhere of late.
Playgirl centerfold Scott Brown running for Senate in New Hampshire recently avoided talking about his record on reproductive rights and equal pay in an appearance on Fox News by suggesting that nobody cares about women issues. Scott Brown: Birth Control and Equal Pay Are Not ‘Issues That People Care About’. “I’m talking about issues that people care about,” Brown said.
Scott Brown’s GOP congressional running mate in New Hampshire, Marilinda Garcia (R-CD 2), was similarly dismissive. House Candidate Who Called Women ‘Emotional Rollercoasters’ Says No One Cares About Women’s Rights:
GOP candidates for the House of Representatives and the Senate in New Hampshire have said that Democrats are using women’s issues as a way to distract voters from “real” issues.
In a radio interview on Tuesday, Marilinda Garcia (R-Rockingham), who is running to represent New Hampshire’s second congressional district, said that the Democrats’ focus on women’s issues was “insulting, because they’re preying upon what they see as a vulnerable group, one that can be swayed with scare tactics.” She said that “maybe 2 percent” of voters she’s talked to are concerned about women’s rights.
Throughout her time in the state house, Garcia has made anti-women comments and has a record of voting against bills supporting women’s issues. In 2007, during a speech on parental notification for abortion, Garcia said that “a pregnant teen — I mean, most women are emotional roller coasters — but a pregnant teen is an emotional roller coaster going at warp-speed.”
Garcia also has voted against bills that would prohibit employment discrimination against victims of domestic violence, prohibit punishing employees who file complaints relating to paycheck equity and create buffer zones around abortion clinics. In a March interview, she said that she opposes the Violence Against Women Act because New Hampshire state law protects women. Domestic violence only became a distinct crime in new Hampshire earlier this year.
Is this how the GOP has decided to deal with its problem with women voters due to its war on women? Simply be dismissive of women’s reproductive health and women’s rights as “not important”? Or as E.Orr dismissed it, just “wedge politics.” Rep. Victoria Steele is right, E.Orr’s comments are offensive and dismissive of more than half the electorate in Arizona.
Women have a clear choice in the LD 9 House race: Rep. Victoria Steele and Dr. Randall Friese are strong supporters of a woman’s constitutional privacy rights in matters of reproductive health. A woman’s uterus is not the property of the state for which legislators can deprive a woman of her constitutional rights and render her a second class citizen to a fertilized ovum.
Don’t forget, E.Orr signed the Center for Arizona Policy’s pledge to fight for the rights of unborn fetuses, fetal “personhood,” while being dismissive of the legal rights of adult women to make choices about their own bodies.
That makes E.Orr as extremist as Rep. Cory Gardner (R) running for the Senate in Colorado. Gardner was a strong supporter of the twice defeated “personhood” amendment in Colorado, and is the sponsor of a “personhood” amendment in Congress. Colorado’s “war on women” and the U.S. Senate race: the sequel. A personhood measure is again on the ballot in Colorado this November. However, Gardner has withdrawn his support, saying that he now agrees that the personhood measure “can ban common forms of contraception.” FactChecking the Colorado Senate Race – FactCheck.org. He remains, though, a co-sponsor of the federal Life at Conception Act, which similarly defines “human person” from the “moment of fertilization.”
This issue does not get the attention that it deserves from Arizona political reporters because they all have Cathi Herrod on speed dial for a ready quote in any article they are writing about religion, gays and abortion in Arizona — as if this mere lobbyist is an official spokesperson for any organized religious faith.
Ethan made women’s rights a wedge issue when he decided to wedge himself into women’s private health decisions. And he should have the courage to own his anti-woman convictions publicly rather than deflecting and trying to gaslight us. Coward.