Florida's 6-week abortion ban is scheduled to take effect on May 1st. That's just a couple of days after Arizona's ban, which is based on an 1864 law written 60 years before it became a state, is supposed to kick in. Given the recent polling results in both states, it appears a majority of voters disagree with both rulings.
On a micro level, both abortion bans are the result of seriously flawed Republican-think. If you widen the lens, I'd say they are the evolution of the GOP war on women. Yes, it's a real thing. If you don't believe me, then read the following commentary I wrote more than a decade ago. It was published in the Los Angeles Daily News. Let me know what you think.
-DF
Binders full of proof of GOP’s war on women
By DENNY FREIDENRICH |
PUBLISHED: October 26, 2012
If there are any female voters out there still thinking about supporting Mitt Romney and his fellow Republicans, I have a binder for you. Not the one Romney mentioned during last week’s presidential debate at Hofstra University. No, my binder is full of examples of why the GOP war on women is real. Here are the unvarnished facts:
Back in February, one of the most conservative board members of the Susan G. Komen Foundation wildly applauded the organization for cutting off funding to Planned Parenthood. That was until public opinion swamped Komen and the board member in question resigned.
Shortly afterward, a GOP Indiana state lawmaker publicly attacked the Girl Scouts, claiming that organization was a tactical arm of Planned Parenthood. Wow. I’ll bet the millions of former Scouts, many of whom are lifelong Republicans, never dreamed they were doing anyone’s political bidding when they were 12.
Two months ago, Rep. Todd Akin, the GOP Senate candidate in Missouri, made his indefensible, reprehensible comment about “legitimate rape.”
He had hardly finished his sentence before leaders in his own party, including House Speaker John Boehner, urged him to quit the race. His opponent is incumbent Claire McCaskill.
By most accounts, McCaskill is a moderate. She’s voted several times with Republicans on environmental issues, co-sponsored a number of bills, such as the Earmark Elimination Act of 2011 with Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Penn., and she supports a balanced budget amendment.
Sadly, several prominent conservatives, like Sens. Jim DeMint and Roy Blunt, former Gov. Mike Huckabee and former presidential candidate Rick Santorum, have stuck by Akin. It makes me wonder, how could a Romney-Ryan-Akin ticket possibly help women?
This month, Illinois Republican Congressman Joe Walsh inaccurately announced that abortions are “absolutely” never necessary to save the lives of pregnant women. “With modern technology and science, you can’t find one instance,” Walsh said.
Really? Not one? I’m guessing his opponent, Tammy Duckworth, could cite hundreds of cases. Duckworth is a former U.S. Army helicopter pilot who lost both her legs while on duty in Iraq.
Sunday morning, GOP Sen. Marco Rubio from Florida, once considered a possible running mate with Romney, went on the offensive against the Lilly Ledbetter fair pay act. That’s the groundbreaking equal pay for equal work bill President Barack Obama signed into law several years ago.
Lastly, on Tuesday Indiana Republican Senate candidate Richard Mourdock said when a woman becomes pregnant during a rape, its “something God intended.” Interestingly, Mitt Romney immediately distanced himself from Mourdock’s statement, but has yet to request his commercial endorsing the GOP Senate candidate be pulled off the air. Talk about hypocrisy.
As these examples illustrate, the Republican attacks on women are not isolated, one-of-a-kind events. They are national in scope. What’s clear is this: These chilling (maybe coordinated) attacks are meant to demonize women, regardless of age, ethnicity or geography. Is this really a winning strategy? If it is, who’s next … Barbie?
Women make up more than 50 percent of the electorate. When you consider how close the race for the White House is right now, the GOP clearly needs them to vote Nov. 6. Given all that’s happened in 2012, I’m pretty sure women will. Only trouble is, I don’t think they will vote Republican. Why should they?
These attacks are not random kid games. To a certain breed of Republican, they are a matter of national pride or divine intervention. To the rest of us, they are politics gone wild.
Are there any female voters out there who need an extra binder?
Now they send it!!!!!! After I have lost my ideas. We have to get all these weak
kneed people around us to get on the bandwagon to help us make Trump a part of history,
not a part of the future.