The hypocrisy of
Republicans and social conservatives has hit an all time high. They are the
grand champions of free markets and liberty for all. Unfortunately these
doctrines end when it comes to the subject of free choices for women. I do not
like the current use of the hyperbolic and violent term "War on
Women" and I will not utilize it here. I do believe that social
conservatives and religious fundamentalists have an overarching doctrine of placing
and keeping women in the traditional roles of homemaker, wife, and mother. They
are essentially uncomfortable with women in any other roles and they
continually campaign against them if they deviate.
Furthermore, they are
exploring every avenue they can to limit women in their exercise of free choice
in their reproductive lives as well as other personal decisions. Religion plays
an enormous role in these viewpoints. This informs their beliefs that they know
what is best in regards to women's choices and roles. Abortion and
contraception are vitally important issues for them. They firmly believe that
the Bible endows them with the ultimate authority over women in making their
life decisions and thus taking choice away from them. This stance can also be
discovered within many other issues.
I will describe to you
in this article what I believe their socially conservative dogma is regarding
family roles, women's reproductive issues, and other important concerns. In
conclusion I will sum up these views and show how they are totally
contradictory with their free market and personal liberty proclamations.
The latest incarnation
of social conservative attempts to limit women's choices can be readily
observed by way of the Hillary Rosen and Ann Romney flap. Ms. Rosen, a
Democratic consultant, made a comment on a CNN political talk panel stating
that Mitt Romney should not use his wife Ann as his political guide regarding
women's economic struggles because she never had to work a day in her life. Her
statement was poorly structured and clumsily delivered. The entire Republican
and social conservative establishments pounced on this utterance in an attempt
to swing the political pendulum on women's issues back in their favor. In
actuality, Ms. Rosen meant to state that Ann Romney has never had to face the
circumstance where she had to work to balance the family budget along with all
the other complications that this decision creates.
Most American women in
this day and age must work to make ends meet. Mitt Romney was born into a
wealthy family and has made himself into an even wealthier man. No one is
denigrating him for this wealth and success. Nor are they belittling Ann's role
as a housewife in their family. Hillary Rosen was attempting to state that Ann
Romney never has had to make these difficult choices that most women are forced
to face today. Therefore her experience is limited regarding these issues
making her opinion on them also limited. Republicans turned this into an
opportunity to idealize the role of the housewife and in turn de-valuing the
other roles women must perform in the United States. It was a deceptive and
dishonest argument with purely political motives. True social conservatives and
religious fundamentalists consider Ann Romney's role as a housewife to be the
only proper role for women. The truth of the matter is that Democrats and
progressives attempt to maximize women's capabilities and choices in our
society instead of limiting them.
The issues that the
Republicans were diverting most of the attention from are their policies
regarding the reproductive rights of women. Abortion has been the issue that
ignited these controversies dating back to 1973 when the United States Supreme
Court legalized it with their Roe v. Wade decision. Religious fundamentalists stayed
out of politics for the most part prior to this decision. Sometimes they
ventured in by way of such issues as poverty, racial equality, or war and
peace. The Catholic Church and others have always had strict rules prohibiting
contraception of all types. Most rank and file Catholics have acknowledged
these rules but they have ignored them for the most part. Otherwise female
contraception was never more than a peripheral issue in religious and political
circles.
Unfortunately Planned
Parenthood has united these two issues and has made them a target for social
conservatives. Planned Parenthood is an organization that provides low cost
health care to women with an emphasis on reproductive health. A very small
percentage of their services involve abortions. These abortions have created a
firestorm among social conservatives that has set Planned Parenthood on their
schedule for elimination. The fact that the vast majority of their services are
vital to the health of millions of low income women makes no difference to
them. They are on a holy crusade to eradicate abortions and in turn Planned
Parenthood. Contraception of all types is now an issue they wish to control for
women.
This came to a head
recently in regards to whether or not Catholic run organizations should be
required to offer healthcare insurance policies that pay for contraception. The
Affordable Healthcare Act requires this and the Secretary of Health and Human
Services Kathleen Sebelius issued rules to ensure that this provision is
followed. Many Catholic Church entities loudly criticized these rules on the
grounds that they violated the freedom of religion clause of the First
Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Sebelius reached a compromise with many of
these critics by amending the rules so that the healthcare insurance companies
would pay for contraceptives directly rather than by these religiously based
organizations. This issue is still
highly controversial and is now making its way through the courts. Social
conservatives and Republicans thought this issue would bolster their standing
with the American public. It backfired on them by portraying their positions as
extreme and immutable. They seem to believe that by controlling a woman's
ability to decide her reproductive future they can also prevent her from having
an abortion. Ironically these strategies will have the exact opposite effects.
The stated goals of
Planned Parenthood are to promote women's health and help them manage their
reproductive systems. Abortions will surely rise if women, especially the poor
among them, are precluded from taking advantage of Planned Parenthood's
reproductive services. The abortion option is available to them when
contraception and other reproductive services fail. These policies are meant to
give women better control over their reproductive health which in turn minimizes
the need for abortions. Social conservatives want to wrest that control away
from women.
Conservative
Republican opposition to women's issues does not stop at the doors of family
and reproductive health. Violence, economics, business, and labor to name just
a few are areas where they oppose the interests of women. Firstly, the
"Violence against Women Act" is under threat of not being extended by
the Republicans in Congress. This act was passed with bipartisan support in
1994. It provides funds for the investigation and prosecution of crimes against
women. Restitution and criminal redress are imposed on those convicted. The Office on
Violence against Women was also created under this act. These
Republicans claim that they are opposing the law's reauthorization on the
grounds that it can be extended to same sex couples and illegal immigrants. I
believe this is a dishonest "red herring" and simply a manufactured
excuse to gut the law.
Another law opposed by
conservative Republicans is the "Lily Ledbetter Act". This law made
it easier for women to sue for redress regarding wage discrimination. Prior to
this law, plaintiffs only had 180 days from the first alleged discriminatory
paycheck to file their lawsuit. The Lily Ledbetter Act allows this 180 day
limit to reset with each subsequent discriminatory paycheck. The "Paycheck
Fairness Act" seeks to close the gap in wages between men and women that
exists today. Women currently earn only 77% of what men earn for similar
positions in our workforce. The Paycheck Fairness Act seeks to remedy this by
allowing employees to share information on their pay rates. It also forces
employers to prove that these discrepancies are based on work conditions and
not gender based when they are sued under this legislation.
Republicans have so
far been successful in blocking the Paycheck Fairness Act. They are also
zealously attempting to repeal the Lily Ledbetter Act. All of these social
conservative actions are further proof that the base of the Republican Party
wishes to return to their preferred version of women in secondary roles within
their ideal of a traditional family. It does not matter to them that the
majority of American women are against this and that it is impractical to do so.
Family roles,
reproductive rights, violence against women, and income disparities are only
the most visible and injurious areas where social conservatives attempt to
control women and restrict their rights and choices. All of the government
spending cuts the Republicans are clamoring for will adversely affect issues
women care about most dearly. These include education, children's nutrition, and
many others. This is symptomatic of the total disregard they hold for women's
opinions and capacity to make their own choices.
Free markets, freedom
of action, and liberty of choice are consistent mantras for conservative
Republicans. Apparently the phrase within the Declaration of Independence,
" All men are
created equal ", is taken literally by most of these
Republicans. It appears that they consider women to be less equal than men and
as a result not able to make most of their critical life decisions for
themselves. After all, you never hear Republicans crying out for an end to
Viagra or any other erectile dysfunction medication within healthcare insurance
policies. Yet female contraception is a consistent target for them.
Freedom of action and
liberty of choice are legitimate ideals for socially conservative Republicans
to pursue just as it is for all of us. My contention is that these ideals
should be for all Americans and not just the male population. Our founding
legal document is the U.S. Constitution. It is a brilliant creation yet also
very flawed. Slaves had no rights and only propertied men were allowed to vote
under its original form. These glaring inequities took many years and much
blood to remedy.
Social conservatives
and religious fundamentalists want to usher us back to an earlier era where the
only rights women had were by way of her husband or father. The woman's
suffragette movement began in the mid 1800's and culminated in 1920 with the
Nineteenth Amendment giving women the right to vote. Since then women have made
major strides in all areas providing them with most of the freedom of action
and liberty of choice that all Americans should enjoy. This exemplifies the
brilliance of our Constitution and our nation.
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