Disgusting! Republican War Against Women Makes It To The House Of Representatives

Republican politicians are beating down women in states they control pretty badly. Texas women, particularly less well-off Texas women, of course, have been especially hard hit. When the U.S. government moved in to protect women there, Texas Republicans sued to stop them.

Publicly funded women's health in Texas has been hit with a double whammy.

First, facing a budget shortfall, the Legislature slashed two-thirds of the money for all family planning in the state-- that's why the Odessa clinic closed two weeks ago.

Second, conservative lawmakers want to run Planned Parenthood out of the state.
Last session, the Texas Legislature barred any clinic with any affiliation to an abortion provider from receiving Medicaid money. Planned Parenthood's health clinics are legally separate from its abortion clinics, though they may be under the same roof. What that means is the Planned Parenthood clinic in Midland will soon have to start charging... for health services that used to be free.

...Texas has among the highest rates of uninsured women, unwanted pregnancies and cervical cancer in the nation. Women's health advocates say any disruption in the deliverance of reproductive services in this state could be disastrous.

Wednesday Democrats tried bum-rushing Boehner with a procedural vote to bring up the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). Boehner, for obvious reasons, doesn't want to allow a vote on it since more than a few of his Members live in districts where women vote. The Democrats were unsuccessful and the GOP "ordering of the previous question" passed 235-183. Every single Republican (no exceptions) voted against women and every single Democrat voted for women. Oh... wait. There was one exception-- one lowlife Blue Dog, still serving but spending most of his time negotiating a job with a string of conservative lobbying firms, abandoned the Democrats, as he usually does, and voted with Boehner and Cantor and the rest of the hate-filled sociopaths.

McHenry frolicking with Jackie Sullens, a GOP lesbian political activist in Gaston Co.

One of the worst of those hate-filled sociopaths is tiny little closet case and woman hater, Patrick McHenry who opposes all legislation aimed at helping women and is an opponent of renewing the Violence Against Women Act. Fortunately, North Carolina voters will be able to pick between McHenry's bigotry and fight populist state Rep. Patsy Keever, who we spoke with right after McHenry helped prevent the vote on renewal.

"During the 2010 campaigns, all the Republican talked about was 'jobs.' Well, it’s nearly two years later, and instead creating quality jobs all they’re trying to do is restrict women’s rights. This comes from the so-called party of 'small government.' I for one am sick and tired of Republican men invading my privacy and interfering with my right to a doctor. Here are a few things they’ve done so far.
 
First, they tried to redefine rape, and in South Dakota, Republicans proposed a bill that could make it legal to murder a doctor who provides abortion care. In Maryland, Republicans cut funding for pre-school programs claiming women should stay at home with the kids. Then at the Federal level Republicans tried to cut Head Start by $1 billion. Most recently, they tried to eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood, prevented women from testifying on a panel about women’s health, and just recently they voted against the “Violence Against Women Act.”
 
I want to take some common-sense principles to Washington D.C., where a good dose of cooperation is direly needed. We need to end this hateful war on women and focus on things like guaranteeing meaningful work for the unemployed, quality schools for our children, and clean air and water for future generations.

Suggestion: Patsy Keever's ActBlue page can use some love. And while you're there, think of the stellar progressive running next door in NC-11, Cecil Bothwell. Cecil's on the same page as Patsy-- at Blue America and in terms of protecting women's equality. "Heath Shuler's vote against reauthorization of VAWA hearkens back to the reason I initially decided to challenge him in the primary," he told us this morning. "On March 23, 2011, I learned that he had voted to defund Planned Parenthood and I threw my hat into the ring. Blue Dog Democrats are unreliable on issues of women's health, civil liberties, Social Security, Medicare and more, and our campaign is offering the voters of NC 11 the chance to vote for a real Democrat instead of a Republican-lite candidate like Hayden Rogers."