I hate the fact that issues of defunding and abortion are prevalent, that they take over all other topics that should be our main focus or concern. But with GOP lawmakers in state after state, Indiana, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Kansas, defunding Planned Parenthood in their 2011 legislative sessions and those in states like New Hampshire, Texas, or Ohio planning similar measures, there is simply no way around it. Republicans always take the same path: First they claim that there is a need to defund Planned Parenthood over 3% abortion services with the weak argument that federal dollars are going to abortion services. Next, they make it almost impossible for clinics to get licensing. Now, we have come to a phase where they deny PPs ability to dispense birth control and antibiotics. But this is serious stuff and women, especially lower-income women, need the support primarily for their personal health and not because they are “anti-life”.
At what point will we realize that this about more than just the pro-life/pro-choice debate? When will start realizing that this sort of discourse has become a method to impose a moral view of womanhood and female health that is so 19th century its almost scary. Republicans don’t care that they increase unplanned pregnancies or endanger womens reproductive abilities by not receiving treatment for infections. In their view, the women should have kept their legs together. What I dont understand is that there continues to be such strong support for this nonsense and half the population keeps voting for them. Scary. This HuffPo piece has an outlook that is a little more optimistic but I dont know if I can agree, sometimes I just believe its only going to get worse from here…