with an UPDATE below:
I haven't had a good rant in a while, but this whole birth control/religious freedom thing makes me crazy. I think it's bullshit.
What's wrong with this photo?
That's the first panel of witnesses, all religious leaders, that House Oversight Committee Chairman Republican Rep. Darrel Issa of California, called to a hearing where he also denied a female witness, claiming As the hearing is not about reproductive rights and contraception but instead about the Administration’s actions as they relate to freedom of religion and conscience, he believes that Ms. Fluke is not an appropriate witness. You can read more about it here.
What's wrong with that picture is that each man sitting there is a representative of some of the most conservative Christian churches and Jewish orthodox temples in this country. Here's the list. I know I'm supposed to respect a diversity of views, but frankly, they make me sick.
Let's face it, ladies: the conservative establishment, in whatever guise you want to call it, has been slowly and inexorably working backward to dismantle reproductive freedom and a woman's right to choose for decades. They're making progress. Those same figures decry the lack of human rights in countries like Afghanistan, but I tell you what. They're really not too far from living in caves themselves. They're just dressed in suits and collars instead of robes, and their wives, if they're allowed to have one, in pearls and cardigans instead of burkhas.
UPDATE: Less of a rant and more measured -- Read HERE.
It makes me crazy too. And you must add this quote to your rant:
ReplyDelete"This contraceptive thing, my gosh it's such inexpensive, back in my days we used Bayer aspirin for contraception, the gals put it between their knees and it wasn't that costly." Foster Friess, Rick Santorum's Super PAC money man, on MSNBC
Every time I see this photo (and it's been posted now multiple times on Facebook), it makes my blood boil. What's even more infuriating is that almost all women in this country use some form of birth control, including the majority of Catholics. Religious freedom, my ass. No one is forcing a strict Catholic to go on the Pill.
ReplyDeleteI think it's going to backfire big time on them, though. Women vote.
Amen! And where are the women in the first picture above???
ReplyDeleteI would say the woman in the picture could be anyone of us who stands up for our right as human beings, who happen to be women. I find the faces may be different but they are found in voices such as yours and countless others out there.
ReplyDeleteI am Catholic and well please, I would have 20 kids, instead of the 6 I have, if not for contraception. Absolutely ridiculous.
The new word verification thing is KILLING me!
Makes me want to throw-up. Makes me want to hit someone. Makes me want to say, "NO! You are not in control of a woman's uterus, and your god is a false one."
ReplyDeleteI mean it.
I agree! It's appalling! I never cease to be amazed how many people in this country want to pull us backwards.
ReplyDeleteI am happy to see all the outrage! I mean, really--we're going to find contraception that frightening?
ReplyDeleteReproduction is absolutely central to a woman's life. It affects everything aspect of her life. If she's not in charge of it, then her full identity as a human being is significantly compromised.
So these misogynists want to eliminate a woman's ability to access birth control for moral and religious reasons? Who morally opposes birth control? Political neanderthal conservatives, bible thumpers and men who wear red dresses with matching red beanies, etc.
ReplyDeleteI am morally opposed to war, oil subsidies and funding faith-based groups...can I morally withhold my taxes?
I thought that neo-conservatives believed that government should stay out of peoples' lives....or only when it suits them?
We are backward in so many others areas of our society, is it surprising that we are now openly making women an issue? It is simply the natural progression of a reactionary political and social/cultural movement which is based on authoritarianism.
ReplyDeleteConservatism recoils from diversity and societal freedom and mobility because it creates uncertainty and demand for more. I know a lot of conservative women, who do not necessarily agree with the extreme of this movement, but who do have a sense that if we got order, as they see it, in our society things would be so much better. Whether they express this openly or by implication, this ultimately comes to some version of patriarchal control. Benevolent patriarchs.
A wordy way of saying, I'm not surprised, given who the front runner of the GOP primary is and how open he is about his authentically held view of how American society should look.
I thought the meetings were about this bill making women's birth control (such as pills, devices, tubals, etc.) free to the consumer vs. keeping in a copay or a deductible (for example) like all other drugs covered on a plan. Are you saying that the meetings are to take birth control rights away??
ReplyDeleteMichele R: I suppose so, but the right has made it also into an issue of "religious freedom and conscience." Hence, the title of the post. The stench is strong.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'd add, that if that were what's at stake -- the free access to birth control -- as a preventive measure and tantamount to women's health, I'd say yes to it, too, and fight tooth and nail to make it so.
ReplyDeleteThose men are protecting what they consider to be the male right to choose for women. Disgusting and ancient idea and it sure as hell is time for it to go.
ReplyDeleteLove your passion. It is desperately needed. The assault on women's rights is shocking to me. People like Santorum are an embarrassment. Sometimes I am ashamed to be an American. I support women's rights to choose and control their own reproduction with vigor.
ReplyDelete