“Shame on them.” That’s what Rep. Sandy Adams said when she was told that more than 300 organizations and government agencies helping victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking opposed her version of reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, H.R. 4970.
The Republican presidential primaries are offering a disturbing glimpse into the supposed conservative vision for this country. In this right-wing utopia, women will no longer be able to exercise the right to control their bodies, plan their families or safeguard their own health. The church and the state will tell women what is best for them, and religious entities’ “liberty” will consistently trump individual women’s right to live and work free from discrimination and in accordance with their own religious and moral beliefs.
When the bishops didn’t get everything they wanted, GOP legislators took up the charge, with a twist: Now they want to give a pass to any employer that claims providing their employees with access to birth control coverage goes against their religious beliefs. I shudder to think how many women such a loophole would affect.
Earlier this month, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius pulled rank on the FDA, overruling the agency’s carefully considered decision to eliminate the discriminatory age restriction on a safe and effective form of emergency contraception.
Women’s income is essential for the majority of families to make ends meet. Yet among women household heads, the unemployment rate was 17.4 percent for African Americans and 12.4 percent for Hispanics in 2010. And if women are not unemployed, they are under-employed and as often as not un- or under-insured.