Election Watch

Obama is Re-Elected, “Rape” Candidates are Defeated

November 7, 2012 By Sarah 2 Comments

The interminable election season is finally over! After all the money, mud-slinging, and hyperbole, Barack Obama has won a second term, Democrats have won control of the Senate, and Republicans have won control of the House. So, really, not that much has changed on the surface, though undoubtedly the pundits and experts will be analyzing the results and trends for years to come.

For now, let’s just bask in the good news: voters in Maryland and Maine approved same-sex marriage; Wisconsin voters elected the first openly gay politician, Tammy Baldwin, to the Senate; and a slew of candidates that made idiotic comments about rape and abortion were defeated!

Filed Under: Election Watch, Quick Hit Tagged With: 2012 election, Barack Obama, Tammy Baldwin, todd akin, US House of Representatives, us senate

Welcome to New York, Sandy!

October 29, 2012 By Jodi 1 Comment

As New York hunkers down for Hurricane Sandy, I want to let her know how we treat women up here–even powerful, independent women who don’t cross their legs, redirect their gale force winds off-shore, or otherwise behave like the little ladies so popular with our male Republican candidates these days.

1) We respect a woman’s right to control her reproductive destiny: New York legalized abortion before Roe vs. Wade became the law of the land.

2) While many of the country’s legislators are dreaming up new ways to demean women, we have New York State Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins introducing the Reproductive Health Act, with eighteen co-sponsors. Its purpose: to provide a fundamental right to choose contraception and the right of a female to determine the course of a pregnancy; to authorize abortion prior to viability; and to decriminalize abortion. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Election Watch, Judicial Watch, Legislative Watch Tagged With: Abortion, Andrea Stewart-Cousins, birth control coverage, Christine Quinn, contraception, health insurance, Hurricane Sandy, Liz Krueger, new york, Reproductive Health Act, reproductive rights

Does Romney Have A(nother) New Stance on Abortion?

October 10, 2012 By Sarah 4 Comments

It should come as no surprise that Mitt Romney has once again changed his mind – and his stated position – on an election issue. Earlier this week, the formerly pro-choice, now anti-choice presidential candidate told the editorial board of the Des Moines Register that “[t]here’s no legislation with regards to abortion that I’m familiar with that would become part of my agenda.” Romney did say, in the same interview, that he would reinstate the Mexico City Policy, which prohibits U.S. foreign aid being used for abortions.

Romney’s latest statement marks a significant change from the Republican politician’s earlier stances on abortion. During his unsuccessful 1994 Senate run against Ted Kennedy, Romney said he supported abortion rights; likewise, in his successful 2002 campaign for governor of Massachusetts, Romney flat-out said that he “will preserve and protect a woman’s right to choose.” Halfway through his term as governor, however, Romney flipped on the issue, and throughout this presidential campaign he has presented himself as strongly anti-choice, only supporting abortions in cases of rape, incest, or to protect the life of the woman.

A Declaration of Love to the US, From a European Who Would Vote for Obama

October 9, 2012 By Manis 2 Comments

I live in France, and I regularly witness anti-American sentiments. But I believe that the U.S. is worthy of admiration. I feel close to this country, as if it were a zeyde who would tell me, “I started with nothing not so long ago and look where I am today. Go, go on.” This Yiddish grandfather could tell me how people learnt from each other and, with all their dreams and joys, all their differences and fights, built a vast place and entered into the history as best as one can.

If I could vote in the U.S. presidential election, I would vote for Barack Obama. To me, he embodies the ethnic, religious, and cultural mix of so many other Americans. Obama also embodies tolerance; he has the courage and the merit to speak about a woman’s right to choose, even while 50% of the U.S. population identifies as anti-choice. I was moved the first time I saw a picture of Obama praying; I am not a Christian, but I am a believer who is the result of an interracial and interreligious (Muslim-Jewish) marriage. So I am personally touched by the (success) story of President Obama.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Election Watch Tagged With: 2012 Presidential election, Barack Obama, health care, United States

Apparently, Todd Akin Has Long Been Confused About Lady Parts

October 3, 2012 By Sarah Leave a Comment

Sometimes, a politician makes a remark for which the only appropriate response is stunned silence. And so it is, again, with good ol’ “legitimate rape” Todd Akin. Videos have surfaced of the Republican Senate candidate giving a speech on the House floor warning about, among other things, doctors who perform abortions on women that aren’t pregnant:

“One of the good pieces of news why we’re winning this war is because there are not enough heartless doctors being graduated from medical schools. There’s a real shortage of abortionists. Who wants to be at the very bottom of the food chain of the medical profession? And what sort of places do these bottom-of-the-food-chain doctors work in? Places that are really a pit. You find that along with the culture of death go all kinds of other law-breaking: not following good sanitary procedure, giving abortions to women who are not actually pregnant, cheating on taxes, all these kinds of things, misuse of anesthetics so that people die or almost die. All of these things are common practice, and all of that information is available for America.”

Oh, Todd Akin. I really wonder how your mind works.

Filed Under: Abortion, Election Watch Tagged With: Abortion, todd akin, women's health

Oh, Brother! Jane Romney Speaks

September 5, 2012 By Jodi Leave a Comment

Jane Romney could have lived out the rest of her brother Mitt’s presidential campaign in relative anonymity—at least among me and my uppity abortion rights-demanding, birth control-loving friends. But then like many a big sister before her, Jane had to go and open up her mouth and get all newsworthy …

Mitt Romney would never make abortions illegal as president, Jane Romney said when National Journal asked her about the subject after a “Women for Mitt” event.” He’s not going to be touching any of that,” she said. “It’s not his focus.”

Why Women Shouldn’t Trust Ann (or Mitt) Romney

August 29, 2012 By Amy 3 Comments

Last night, presidential hopeful Mitt Romney’s wife of 43 years, Ann Romney, addressed delegates at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida. The speech, which CNN’s David Gergen compared to then-Sen. Barack Obama’s speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, sought to humanize Mitt Romney, who has struggled with likeability ratings throughout the Republican Primary.

Plenty of pundits echoed Gergen’s gushing praise of Ann Romney’s speech. In fact, most of the conservative commentary that I read seemed to wish, deep down, that it was Ann and not Mitt Romney at the top of their ticket – I mean, if she didn’t have ovaries and the rest of that whole “woman” thing going on.

I didn’t listen to Ann Romney’s speech live, mainly because I care about my health and sanity. I find the GOP’s trotting out of conservative women to line up for Mitt Romney offensive and patronizing, but I suppose it’s better than having Republidudes lined up to mansplain to all us ladies about what is best for us.
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Filed Under: Election Watch Tagged With: Ann Romney, Mitt Romney, Republican National Convention, RNC, women's health, women's issues

Free To Bully You and Me

February 22, 2012 By Jodi 4 Comments

I almost feel sorry for Darrell Issa, the California Congressman no one heard of before last Thursday’s meeting of the House Oversight Committee.

Not sorry enough to resist piling on the flaming ashes of his dignity. Not sorry enough to stop fighting his party’s ludicrous waste of my tax dollars agenda. (If the GOP has taught me anything, it’s that my money is mine in perpetuity—before, after and especially during the time any of it goes to visit Uncle Sammy.) And certainly not sorry enough to forgive the far right for inventing my least favorite Republican party game: Stick the Nose (and the ultrasound wand) in the Vagina.

But still … I feel for the man.

After more than a decade in office, Issa finally gets the juice to order himself up his very own Norma Desmond moment—a starring role in televised hearings that people without press passes will actually watch. Who knew he was nowhere near ready for his close-up?

These days even the lowliest intern in Washington knows that politics is all about optics. And however much the backlash over the all-male first panel seems like evidence to the contrary, so do Issa’s staffers. Someone saw to it that Issa had a female staff member sitting next to him, sure to appear on camera every time he leaned in to the mike. (If heads roll over this, why do I feel like hers will be the first to go?) Someone also made sure that the all-male line-up was neither all-white nor all-Christian. So care was taken. No one is pleading ignorance aforethought–no matter how much it seems like the wise thing to do.

The unfortunate truth is that the optics were exactly what the Issa camp ordered–a multicultural, multidenominational parade of patriarchal power, the likes of which we haven’t seen since the frat pack chatted up Coke bottles and pubic hair with Anita Hill.

What surprises me is that the Issa camp doesn’t seem to have seen the power–or expected that others would. I suppose to their minds–and eyes, apparently–the clergy were simply victims of an intrusive, religious freedom-denying state. (The panel’s title, remember, was the unsubtle “Has the Obama Administration Trampled on Freedom of Religion and Freedom of Conscience?”)

The problem for us and them is that they did it with a straight face.

The Republican primaries and why I’m starting to feel good about Poland

January 26, 2012 By Maria 3 Comments

I spent a few wonderful years in America as a child and have a lot of fondness for the country. All these years later you could wake me up in the middle of the night and I’d recite the whole Pledge of Allegiance from memory without even properly waking up. I’m a fan of a lot things American – literature, attitude to life, belief in “try and you will succeed” and the ridiculously huge selection of breakfast cereals. Partially out of sentiment and mostly because America is still a major international player, I follow American politics pretty closely. Frankly, I know next to nothing about the economy and taxes, so really by politics I mostly mean the reproductive rights situation.

Earlier this week pro-choicers around the world celebrated the 39th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade. This was particularly meaningful to me, because in my home country – Poland – we still haven’t come as far as to clearly and loudly say that a woman’s uterus is her own effing business and no one else’s. In fact, we’re actually pretty darn awful when it comes to reproductive rights. But I have to say, following what the Republican presidential candidates have been saying about abortion and contraception lately I have trouble believing what I’m reading. I’m starting to think that although the laws are worse in Poland, the attitude of major politicians might just be better.

And this is actually saying a lot as I come from a country where (and I kid you not), we are continually debating the issue of formally enthroning Jesus Christ so that he will join his mother (yes, the Virgin Mary is officially named the queen of Poland) in some sick, incestuous, royal coupling in a supposedly secular country. Abortion is practically illegal, there’s no real sex education in schools and contraceptives are relatively difficult to get and expensive. And I could just keep them coming… So trust me, it’s pretty bad back home, but I’m starting to think that even our right-wing politicians have more common sense than the future president of the US will, if he happens to be Republican (and now that’s real nightmare material!). And here’s why I think so – if the winner of the Republican primaries wins the National election he will most likely: [Read more...]

Filed Under: Election Watch Tagged With: Abortion, Elections, Poland, Republicans, US

The Santorum Double Standard

January 25, 2012 By Sarah 5 Comments

With the way the Republican presidential campaign is going, it’s entirely possible that Rick Santorum will have dropped out of the race by the time this article runs. Yet before his third-place finish in the South Carolina primary, Santorum had been making a lot of news for his personal experience with terminating a pregnancy.

In 1996, the then-nineteen weeks pregnant Karen Santorum had undergone surgery to address a fetal kidney malfunction. Following the operation, she developed an infection, and the Santorums had to make the difficult choice of terminating the pregnancy, or risking Karen’s life. By all accounts they made the decision together, and Karen was given medication to induce labor.

Rick Santorum is stridently anti-choice. He has signed the Personhood Pledge; he opposes Griswold v. Connecticut, the Supreme Court decision that legalized birth control. Santorum considers late-term abortion procedures “medically unnecessary,” and opposes abortion in all circumstances, including rape; incest; if the fetus has no chance of surviving to full-term; and if a woman’s life is threatened by continuing the pregnancy. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Election Watch Tagged With: Abortion, birth control, contraception, Double standard, hypocrisy, karen santorum, personhood, personhood pledge, politics, Republicans, rick santorum