I'm gearing up for the elections in a lot of small and big ways, including continuing to work with the Women's Campaign Forum (if you are coming to the Hail to the Chiefs Event, please let me know!) and maybe going to the Democratic Convention (if I can find housing).
The campaigns are also heating up, and we're going to be hearing a lot more about abortion and birth control over the next few weeks, in addition to housing prices, gas prices, taxes and health care.
The Dems released their platform this weekend, which is firmly pro-choice.
The Democratic Party also strongly supports access to affordable family planning services and comprehensive age-appropriate sex education which empowers people to make informed choices and live healthy lives. We also recognize that such health care and education help reduce the number of unintended pregnancies and thereby also reduce the need for abortions.
The Democratic Party also strongly supports a woman's decision to have a child by ensuring access to and availability of programs for pre- and post-natal health care, parenting skills, income support, and caring adoption programs.
There is a very interesting article in the New Republic about the inclusion of a choice statement in the Democratic party's platform this year.
The anti-choice Democrats want to focus more on reducing the need for abortion, which, really, I just cannot fathom how anyone could possibly talk more about reducing the need for abortions in our mealy mouthed milquetoast compromise of a political platform we think we have. If reducing the need for abortion is in the middle, with no abortions being on the right and the far left being abortion discount coupons given out at halloween, just how much further right do we move before we're not even worried about access to abortion anymore? How much past the middle are we going to "compromise"?
Okay, rant over. Maybe.
The amazing leadership of the Democrats who have been the protectors of choice during their six years in Congress keeps us safe and helps me sleep at night.
So anyway, the Presidential election, on whom four Supreme Court appointments hang, is between Barack Obama, who is said to be clearly pro-choice, but, maybe not, like, 100%, versus John McCain, who is definitely clearly anti-choice. According to the latter article, McCain has voted anti choice in 125 of 130 votes on the issue, supports the Global Gag Rule, and consistently gets 0% voting records from folks like NARAL. Plus, he has voted against requiring coverage of birth control, and all sorts of other things, then says "I don't know that much about it" when called on the carpet for his votes.
Which, means, like most voters with particular issues, there's no one candidate who's a good match for my opinions. I am left with no strong feeling that Congress, regardless of it's official pro-choice stance, is going to do much good for protecting my ability to make decisions about the private personal things that go on inside my body, regardless of any rhetoric to the contrary.
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I wonder if we could excite a group of women to address the Stupak Amendment to the House Health bill just passed? Perhaps we could get the amendment bumped out during Conference? Also, maybe this is a symptom of work we need to do, reach out to Catholic women more? Develop awareness of the links/ interplay between poverty, access to quality, affordable health care and reproductive rights/ reproductive choices available to women, ALL women regardless their socio-economic status or ethnic or gender identity?
Posted by: Kris Anderson | November 09, 2009 at 08:43 AM