Rommney-Ryan and the Women
The Male Standpoint on Abortion, Rape and the Freedom of Choice
“Well they can go wherever they’d like to go. This is a free society." (Romney)
The pro-life Republican candidate boldly
announced should he become president federal funding for Planned Parenthood
would be cut back without any concerns for the health of millions of women. "It's
a free society", he said, but women are not free to chose. Oddly enough he
is also the candidate who advocates less governmental intervention everywhere
else. Just in this case it's the government's moral obligation to dictate what
a women is supposed to do with her body. The government has a moral obligation
to protect life. But what about the health of the mother. Is the her life less
important than that of the foetus.
Then again Paul Ryan also stood behind Rep. Sen. Todd
Akin, who is convinced the female vagina has a way to distinguish between
"legitimate rape" and, well "illegitimate rape". And
again it's all about the money. In order to curb spending the "No Taxpayer
Funding for Abortions Act" co-authored by Ryan was supposed to protect the
pro-life taxpayer and consequently the health care system in general from rape
victims who seek to terminate their pregnancy. Technically the Republican
ticket is pro-women but in order to topple Roe vs. Wade they would even go as
to redefine rape as "forcible rape." With squabble about legal
terminology to get abortion clinics out of business it is no wonder that sex
offenders walk. Statistically, 54% of the all sexual offences are not even
reported and 97% of all rapists have never even seen the insides of a jail
cell. There is the government's moral obligation.
The birth control pill would be next on the
Romney-Ryan agenda. According to one of his petitions the Pill, that afforded
women with a choice, should no longer be part of the so-called basic preventive
care. Already in February Romney supported an amendment that would allow
an "employer the right to deny health insurance coverage for any
benefit based on a “moral” conviction". But who would need birth control,
if you ask Sen. Akin, women could just magically "try and shut that whole
thing down". Why? Because America is going through a financial crisis and
budget cuts are necessary. And pro-life legislation is so much easier to pass
when disguised as a necessary step to tackle the huge national debt and it
makes you look righteous. Who could argue against budget cuts when it saves
lives?
Frailty thy name is Romney
When he told the Des Moins Register,
"there’s no legislation with regards to abortion that I’m familiar with
that would become part of my agenda", he should have read his campaign
web-site. Both pro-life Republican enthusiasts believes life begins at the
moment of conception, therefore President Obama is convinced, if given the
chance, Romney in the White House would overturn Roe vs. Wade.
Religion has
entered the election campaign through the backdoor, disguised by economic measures
to prevent the national debt from rising. Romney’s stance on same sex marriage
as well as abortion is an expression of his deep commitment to his faith.
During his time as ward bishop he had a more cavalier attitude towards women’s
issues. Although his church allows abortion when a woman’s health is at risk, Romney’s
pro-baby attitude is not necessarily pro-life-of-the-mother. In 1990 the
Exponent II, a feminist Mormon magazine, anonymously published an article by Carrel
Hilton Sheldon, whose risky pregnancy could have cost her life and that of the baby.
The doctors advised the termination of her pregnancy but Bishop Romney showed up at the hospital warning her not to proceed. "Mitt has many, many winning qualities, but at the time
he was blind to me as a human being," Sheldon said in the Ronald B.
Scott's book Mitt Romney: An Inside Look at the Man and His Politics. And Sheldon was not the only female member of Romney's parish who was confronted with Mitt's narrow interpretation of Mormon doctrine. Peggy Hayes, a divorced single mom, was asked to give up her second baby for adoption, otherwise she might face
excommunication. Single parenting may be frowned upon by the church but not expressly forbidden. According
to Hayes interview with the Boston Globe, the devout Mormon
had defended himself: "Well, this is what the church wants you to do, and if
you don’t, then you could be excommunicated for failing to follow the
leadership of the church.” Well, if it’s the church that wants you to jump from
the top of a four story building, would you do it? The first Amendment grants
everyone the freedom of religion, but with a Mormon bishop holding the reigns
of power the fabled line separating church and state gets blurred and the
Mormon faith might just become the religious compass for all of America.
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