Here is a teaser of a bill that has passed the house in Arizona and is on it’s way to the AZ Senate for a vote.
Arizona legislators have advanced an unprecedented bill that would require women who wish to have their contraception covered by their health insurance plans to prove to their employers that they are taking it to treat medical conditions. The bill also makes it easier for Arizona employers to fire a woman for using birth control to prevent pregnancy despite the employer’s moral objection
Women throughout this country better wake up, and go to vote in unprecedented numbers or we are going to find ourselves back in the 19th century. You can read the full article here
Wow, that is a chilling piece of legislation. This current attack against woman’s rights baffles me, but then so does the current lack of acceptance of science in your previous post–almost certainly a connection.
I’m just exhausted by the whole thing, Steve. We fought so hard for our rights, and now to see it all being challenged and whittled away is terrifying and depressing. I don’t know what to do. It is like the American Taliban. There is a wonderful poster with a picture of Santorum on one side and Osama bin Ladin on the other, they both have/had the same attitude about the place of religion in public life, and it’s so frightening. And as Hillary said today, they always go after the women. Why? I don’t know. Do we scare these kind of men? It it jealousy because women can give birth? I’m just baffled and so disheartened.
The saddest part is when I run into women who push these rules… it is like watching the Handmaid’s tale played out. I know of women who think the greatest tragedy to this country was the 19th amendment and the “consequences” it has brought. I can laugh at and make fun of a man making comments like that.. when a woman does that it scares me to the bone.
Stephen, the idea that women would actually wish to go back into the position of chattel is utterly terrifying and mystifying to me. Is it that the world seems too complicated and scary? What would make people want that?
I’m contemplating just putting up link and link of this assault on women’s rights on my Facebook page, but I fear blowback, and I’m almost too tired to debate the trolls. Thanks for people like both of you Stephens and Steves for being voices of sanity in the midst of the screaming.
I debated this issue with another woman on Facebook earlier this week. She claimed that a catholic institution providing birth control as part of their covered medical services was an infringement of her religious freedom. How, I asked? Nobody was forcing her to take birth control. She made so many judgemental statements against women responsible enough to use birth control. It left me wanting to scream. I usually stay out of those discussions, but when somebody makes blatantly ignorant statements time and time again, I have to say something.
Good for you, Rebecca. We taught to be polite, but sometimes you just can’t let these things go by without speaking up. The wife of a consultant I sometimes use included me in her email circle, and what she sent was an incredibly racist joke. I hit “reply all”, pointed out this was racist and offensive, and requested she remove me from her list. I got back a huffy, “It’s just a joke!”, but she did take me off her list.
I’m trying to decide if I’m going to link to all the crazy, and link to the Doonesbury cartoon. I know there will be blowback on my Facebook page, but young women need to know that the rights they take for granted were won after a hard fight, and they could lose those rights.