By Ebbtide
It’s Women’s History Month again, and the Republicans are
still at it. Although Ann Romney loves you women and Michele Bachmann has
stated that the GOP is really very good on women’s issues, the proof is in the pudding
ridiculous, offensive, soul-hurting comments they make about women and, more
devastatingly, the horrible laws they try to (and often do) pass.
Hard to believe it’s been a year since my last post about
the Republican War on Women. Last year about this time was when Rush Limbaugh
was on his slut rant; Virginia Governor, Bob McDonnell had just earned his “Governor
Ultrasound” title; and the rest of the gang were doing everything in their power
to marginalize and malign women. Hmm, how’d that work out for you guys come
November 2012? What’s that?
According
to CNN's exit polls, 55 percent of women voted for Obama, while only 44
percent voted for Mitt Romney… and women made up about 54 percent of the
electorate. In total, the gender gap added up to 18 percent -- a
significantly wider margin than the 12-point gender gap in the 2008 election.
But Republicans won’t let something like losing a
Presidential Election stop them from doing everything in their power to keep
the “little ladies” in their place. Let’s look at some of their more heinous
actions during the past year, shall we?
Here’s a Moveon.org video about the subject:
MY FAIR LADY
Hey, GOP, Lerner and Lowe were writing a musical, not
proffering a manifesto, when they penned “A Hymn to Him” (Why Can’t
a Woman Be More Like a Man) with lyrics that included:
Women are irrational, that's all there is to that!
Their heads are full of cotton, hay, and rags!
They're nothing but exasperating, irritating,
vacillating, calculating, agitating,
Maddening and infuriating hags!
Yep—that apparently is really what the GOPers think. Last year, my
Women’s History Month post examined anti-woman legislation, month by month, but
they’ve stepped up their game and amped their stupidity to the point where what
the GOP doesn’t understand about women could fill a 12-book encyclopedic series.
So this year, we’ll just have to restrict ourselves to the highlights
lowlights of their incredible ignorance and denigration of women.
While we're on a musical bent, remember that great Sam Cooke song, What a Wonderful World It Would Be? Well, it's not a wonderful world with the Republican attitudes, but they certainly...
DON’T KNOW MUCH ABOUT HISTORY...
While Ann Romney was LOVING YOU WOMEN, 2012 had
the second-highest
number of new anti-abortion laws enacted in the decades following Roe v. Wade. Rachel
Maddow’s blog has a great recap of the Guttmacher report and its analysis of the new data, that shows more than half of the 43 new
anti-abortion laws of 2012 were enacted in just six states.
Reproductive health and rights was once again the subject of
extensive debate in state capitols in 2012. Over the course of the year, 42
states and the District of Columbia enacted 122 provisions related to
reproductive health and rights. One-third of these new provisions, 43 in 19
states, sought to restrict access to abortion services. Although this is a
sharp decrease from the record-breaking 92 abortion restrictions enacted in
2011, it is the second highest annual number of new abortion restrictions.
As of 9/13/2012, according to
Think Progress:
REPORT: HOUSE GOP HAS HELD 55
VOTES ON ANTI-WOMEN BILLS | House
Democrats have released a new study tracking the House GOP’s harmful anti-women agenda. Since
January 2011, the Republican-controlled House has voted 55 times on bills to
“undermine women’s health, roll back women’s rights, and defund programs and
institutions that provide support for women,” according to the report prepared
by the Energy and Commerce Committee’s Democratic staff. The votes — including
17 about health insurance, 11 to cut access to preventive care, and 10 to limit
abortion access — make up 5 percent of all the House
legislative votes in the 112th Congress.
And although 2013 is just getting started, the anti-choice gang
of Republicans are chipping away at reproductive rights from all angles, particularly on the state
level.
DON’T KNOW MUCH BIOLOGY...
Who can forget Foster Friess saying, “Want contraception? Put an aspirin
between your knees.” Yeah, that’s the kind of contribution Republicans are making to the conversation. Here is video clip of the amiable Mr. Friess explaining
things to an astounded Andrea Mitchell.
I could write interminably about Republicans’ views on rape,
but eclectablog.com has put together some excellent graphics depicting the GOP
Rape Advisory chart, so I’ll just let it speak for itself (NOTE--this is not something new with Republicans. They've been saying stupid, misogynistic things for MANY years.)
And if that's not enough, Volume 2:
And Volume 3:
DON’T KNOW MUCH ABOUT A SCIENCE BOOK...
U.S. Rep. Todd Akin's (R-Mo.) comment that it is
"rare" for a woman to get pregnant after a "legitimate
rape" because
"the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down."
Celeste
Greig who leads the California
Republican Assembly, trying to clear up Akin’s comment, goes even further in
the weeds. "That was an insensitive remark,"
Greig said. "I'm sure he regretted it. He should have come back and
apologized."
She then went on, however, to agree with Akin's premise that
such pregnancies are uncommon.
"Granted, the percentage of pregnancies due to rape is
small because it's an act of violence, because the body is traumatized,"
she added. "I don't know what percentage of pregnancies are due to the
violence of rape. Because of the trauma the body goes through, I don't know
what percentage of pregnancy results from the act."
AND WHAT ABOUT THE WOMEN?
Sadly, it’s not only Republican men—their women seem to be
almost as anti-woman (if THAT’S not an oxymoron, I don’t know what is)
Here’s
the list of the ten female members of Congress who voted against protecting
women from domestic violence and other forms of violence against women (note—they’re
all Republicans, of course):
· Michele Bachmann (MN-06)
·
Diane Black (TN-06)
·
Marsha Blackburn (TN-07)
·
Renee Ellmers (NC-02)
·
Virginia Foxx (NC-05)
·
Vicky Hartlzer (MO-04)
·
Cynthia Lummis (WY)
·
Kristi Noem (SD)
·
Martha Roby (AL-02)
·
Ann Wagner (MO-02)
WE CAN DO THIS
Let’s remember, women are the
MAJORITY of voters in this country, and more and more, are standing up and
being heard.
- For an up-to-date listing of personhood bills and ballot initiatives and what you can do to help stop the madness, Resolve.org provides an incredible amount of information.
- And here's an extremely comprehensive database of the GOP War on Women from politicususa (complete with artwork by the wonderful AzureGhost) Proof of the GOP War on Women
REMEMBER, from the 2012 campaign...
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