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What a great way to remove women’s rights, enforce that women are second class citizens, the underclass, and condone violence against women- push to make abortion and contraception illegal.

Who likes to talk about abortion? No one, not really. It just ain’t dinner table conversation. Well, pass the dinner rolls, the butter and my right to decide what I want for my body, including whether or not I want to eat dinner rolls at all.

Does this sound like much to do about nothing?

I went to a social work conference the other day and was talking with a woman who is a Republican and I asked her what she thinks about the strong push by the right wing to take away women’s rights. We talked about it some and she said that, though she is a strong Catholic, she has used the pill for years, believes in birth control and has been having issue with all of this stuff going on right now and has been to confession over it several times. But the abortion thing, “I can’t even think about it, it makes me sick,” she said.

Perfect! A lightbulb must have gone off in some right winger’s head the first time they realized people didn’t want to talk about it. They must have rubbed their palms together and laughed an evil laugh and said, ‘this is it!’ This is the issue to talk about to make sure women are the underclass and stay that way.

This is the issue that no one will really want to talk about and so easily and quietly, we will strip women of their rights to make decisions for themselves. Women won’t even want to comment on it because there is so much cultural shame around it and we’ll flash pictures of fetuses and tell horror stories about babies being killed if they do. Sure you’ll get some crazies but they’ll be blown off as extreme nazi-feminists.

We’ll assure women don’t have too much power ever and head toward them being only in certain jobs and primarily in the home, barefoot and pregnant. Pushing anti-aboriton and  anti-contraception laws- it’s the perfect plan.

And for women: The Perfect Storm!

The nation is moving toward taking whatever control it can over women and it’s happening state by state. More states are moving toward mandating ultrasounds before abortions, which assumes the woman is ignorant about her body and choice and often means she must schedule two different appointments, pay for the ultrasound, submit to being vaginally penetrated for an unneeded procedure even if she doesn’t want to have an ultrasound, and risk psychological harm by being forced to see images of the fetus.

Bigger picture: If women can’t make decisions about our bodies around abortion and contraception, that will translate to other areas as well, it already does. Women say No to sex, are ignored and subsequently raped. It happens all the time. Violence against women is upped when women don’t have rights for their bodies and selves. Don’t think this is just about abortion- it’s about controlling women, but nobody likes to talk about it all anyways.

In Georgia- Democratic Representative Yasmin Neal from the Atlanta suburb of Jonesboro, introduced HB 1116, which moved to legislate men’s bodies like laws are legislating women’s bodies by keeping men from having vasectomies unless needed to avert serious injury or death.

The bill reads: “It is patently unfair that men avoid the rewards of unwanted fatherhood by presuming that their judgment over such matters is more valid than the judgment of the General Assembly. … It is the purpose of the General Assembly to assert an invasive state interest in the reproductive habits of men in this state and substitute the will of the government over the will of adult men.”

Doug McKillip, a Republican Rep. from Athens, Georgia, who introduced the anti-abortion bill said he was disappointed in his colleague for taking “this opportunity to make light of a very important topic.”
Listen Doug McPhillip- this is an important topic. Yasmin Neal isn’t making light of anything. This is a serious point and a good one. Why should men be able to regulate women’s bodies? Why should government, which is primarily made up of men, be able to make decisions for women’s bodies? For the party who is anti-big-government, they sure have their government trying to control women’s every move.
In Iowa-
Republican Rep. Kim Pearson of Pleasant Hill introduced House Bill 2298, which is an outright ban on abortion, and includes criminal penalties of up to life in prison for those who perform abortions. Iowa Democrats accused House Republicans of pursuing divisive social issues rather than policies to boost job growth and the economy.
When are Democrats going to full on accuse Republicans of taking away women’s rights for their bodies. I’m concerned about jobs and the economy- absolutely- but I’m actually more concerned that we’ll get to a point when I can’t make decisions for myself at all, about anything.
In Virginia- others are concerned about women having rights as well and have formed a committee, Women’s Strike Force, to recruit and support candidates to defeat elected officials who back the ultrasound and so-called “personhood” bills.
I hate to think we won the right to vote but will lose the right to decide whether or not we want to have sex, what we want to wear, whether we want to be married, whether we can be sold, whether we want to be burned or killed, whether we want to be able to use contraception or have an abortion or not. It’s about being fully human, not an underclass that has to hide the decisions we make and are constitutionally unable to make decisions for ourselves.
Grrl Code: Help other women understand this is about our rights and making sure we don’t lose them because the more we lose, the more we lose power behind our voices and the more violence against us is upped. Even if you are against abortion, this is about choice. Women have been having abortions for thousands of years, this is about the right to choose what you want for your body and if abortion is the choice you make, to have that option be safe. If the choice is made to continue a pregnancy and have a baby, great, that too is your choice. We cannot let this be an issue that divides women, but one that brings us together. It’s about keeping our humanity.