“Advocates Shun ‘Pro-Choice’ to Expand Message” was the headline in an article by Jackie Calmes in today’s Times. Ms. Calmes explained that “pro-choice” refers to abortion, but that the issues facing women today are much greater.
Since 2010 Republicans have attempted to defund Planned Parenthood. They are still talking about repealing the Affordable Care Act, which mandates coverage for contraception, mammograms, and annual gynecological exams without co-payments. The Act also ended insurance companies’ rating systems that charged women more then men.
Republicans used the cover of “religious freedom” to deny the birth control benefit. Many Republicans are proposing a “personhood” amendment, that would define life as starting at conception, which would criminalize some fertility treatments. They would, in effect, insert legislators in the examination room to tell doctors and their patients what procedures are legal or illegal.
Finally, Republicans are blocking a rise in the minimum wage which would benefit millions of women at the lower end of the pay scale.
It’s a lot more than abortion that is at issue here. Women’s rights are under attack across the board.
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