One of the aspects of governing that drives me up a wall is the hypocritical belief that politicians can get away with certain behavior while the rest of us cannot.
Herschel Walker is the Republican Senate nominee from Georgia. For months, he has been towing the party line of being against abortion. Last week, it was revealed that back in 2009, he paid a former girlfriend to end her pregnancy. Walker also made a similar request to this same woman two years later. She decided against the procedure.
If Herschel Walker were a woman who had an abortion, he would have lost the support of the Republican party and voters. But because he’s a man, he can abet an infinite number of abortions and still win a seat in the US Senate, where he’ll strip women of their reproductive rights.
What bothers me (beyond my fear of what he may or may not do should he win the election) is talking out of both sides of his mouth. If he had admitted to the truth and stated that his views had changed since then, that would be one thing. But he continues to say one thing and do another. Anyone who follows American politics these days knows that this is par for the course from the right.
In short, these men (and some women) are all for a partial and/or total abortion ban. That is until a female in their life becomes pregnant and for any number of reasons, it cannot be continued. Then, they are all for it.
They can’t have it both ways. It is either against the law or up to the woman/pregnant person, their doctor, their partner (if they have one), and their creator (if this person has a specific religious belief).
The nature of the American democracy is made up of two different political parties who at the end of the day, can hopefully come to a compromise. These days “hopefully” is wishful thinking and “compromise” is a dirty word, depending on who you speak to.
Last week, Arizona Gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake made the following statement:
“Women are not equal to men. We don’t want to be equal to them”.
WATCH: @KariLake says women “aren’t equal to men” and “we don't want to be equal to them.”
You can’t make this stuff up.
This is just the first in our series of new digital ads highlighting Kari Lake’s seriously dangerous positions. Help us defeat her in November. pic.twitter.com/Y72YLq3sEJ
I have a problem with this statement. If women are not equal to men, then we are inferior. Therefore Ms. Lake hasn’t got a chance in you know where to win her election. The person who becomes Arizona’s next Governor will automatically be a male. This type of thinking drives me insane. The women take advantage of feminist achievements when it suits them, but they also bash it when it suits them. They can’t have it both ways. We are equal to our male counterparts, or we are meant to be barefoot and pregnant without any rights.
Last week, in Louisiana, Nancy Davis was denied an abortion. As of when the news hit the press, she was 15 weeks pregnant and told that her fetus was nonviable. Due to the draconian and far too vague anti-abortion law, she will have to travel out of state to have the procedure. I can only imagine that being told that the fetus is nonviable is hard enough. The last thing I would wish on anyone in that position is to be told that they have to carry a pregnancy to term because of legislation crafted by non-medical professionals who may be forcing their religious beliefs on others.
And finally, in Texas, Adrienne Quinn Martin stood in front of her local school board and basically told them to shove their book-banning ideas where the sun doesn’t shine.
Me speaking at the Granbury ISD school board meeting tonight . Granbury ISD is continuing to purge books. The folks that show up at every meeting demanding books be removed , not a single one is a GISD parent. Yet , the school board seems to be giving them everything they want . pic.twitter.com/CUqCacoqYI
“Your personal religious beliefs, people in this room and on this board, should not have an effect on my child’s education either. Our school are not to be used for personal political agendas and our children are here for education, not religious indoctrination,” she told the room as she looked various board members and attendees directly in the eye.
“I implore the board to put an end to attempts to appease these extremists. Focus on retaining staff, providing excellent public education and a safe and welcoming learning space for all students. The speakers speaking about what great Christians they are? Great. Go tell your pastor. Our schools are not your church.
Am I a taxpayer whose taxes help to fund public schools? Yes. But I am not a parent or a teacher. Nor do I have a degree in education. Therefore, I will let those who interact with students on a constant basis make the decisions that are best for our children’s education.
This is the state of our political system these days. We have two choices: let the extremists on the right change this nation or fight for everything we hold dear.
There are many people in this country and around the world who believe that abortion is both illegal and immoral. If this is what you believe, this is what has to be done to stop it entirely.
Teach our boys and men to respect women.
Break down all of the boundaries that still prevent females from achieving everything they want to achieve. An educated woman with a solid career is more likely to have a child when she is financially and emotionally ready to be a mother.
Upon reaching puberty, all boys are required by law to have a vasectomy. When they have proven that they can properly take care of their offspring, the vasectomy is reversed.
If an unplanned pregnancy occurs (whether via wanted or unwanted sex) and the man refuses to take responsibility, use law enforcement to ensure that both the mother and child are taken care of until the child turns eighteen. If he still refuses, cut his junk off.
Ensure that every child is given age-appropriate sex education.
Make birth control easily accessible without charging an arm and a leg.
Ensure that every pregnant woman has easy access to affordable and reliable medical care until she gives birth. After the baby is born, make sure that the parents can do the same for pediatric care.
If the mother and/or parents are in a financial/employment bind, the government is responsible for providing additional support. This includes housing, food, etc.
Reduce the cost of daycare to be proportional to the salaries of the adults in the home.
From the moment they are born, each child is guaranteed a well-balanced education from pre-school all the way up to college. If they choose to go for an advanced degree, that is on them.
If the youngster is unable to be raised within the bosom of their family and has to be put into social services, remove the identity labels that prevent some from fostering and/or adopting the minor.
Add mental health screenings as part of the regular medical checkup. If there is supplemental help is needed, it is marked as preventative by the health insurance companies and charged as such.
If abortion is determined as necessary by a medical health professional, give the family room to consider their options and do not judge them if the decision is made to end the pregnancy.
The difference between being seen as breeding stock and a fully-fledged human being with responsibilities, dreams, ambitions, etc comes down to one word: rights.
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito made a very damning and unnerving statement in the body of the leaked draft of the opinion that could potentially overturn Roe V. Wade. Buried in the footnotes is a quote from a 2002 CDC report about adoption within the United States.
“Whereas the domestic supply of infants relinquished at birth or within the first month of life and available to be adopted has become virtually nonexistent.”
What bothers me are two things. The first thing is that it opens the door to a slippery slope. Abortion is low-hanging fruit to these people. What’s next? Losing access to birth control? Taking away the ability to marry for LGBTQ couples and biracial couples? Undoing the 19th amendment and the 14th amendment?
The second thing is that this opinion is based on rulings that are centuries old. I’m not a lawyer, but it seems to me that they are grasping at straws, finding any legal theory (even the archaic ones) that they believe will support their cause.
Unfortunately, there is nothing we can do about SCOTUS judges. Their appointments are for life. But we can vote for Democrats at every level. They are the only ones who are both working for the people of this nation and fighting for the freedoms that we all hold dear.
Abortion is not a new phenomenon. Since the beginning of human history, women have sought out ways to end pregnancies. The bigger question is if it was legalized by the state and if the procedure was medically safe.
Earlier this month, Lizelle Herrera was charged with murder in Texas when she self-abortion medication. The charges have since been dropped, but the message is clear. A woman’s life and choices are no longer her own, they belong to the government.
What I find scary about this story is that is straight out of The Handmaid’s Tale. I know that it is a cliche statement, but there is no other way to describe it. Whatever the reason Ms. Herrera had for ending her pregnancy is no one’s business but her own. The long hand of the law had no business getting involved.
I don’t know what it will take to shake the figurative shackles off American women, but this is ridiculous. It’s 2022. It’s about time that we all get it through our heads that the female is not just the dutiful and submissive helpmeet to her male counterpart. We are equal in every way that matters, period.
Marriage, in its ideal form, is the promise between two adults, who are ready, willing, and able to make what is hopefully a lifetime commitment. But the reality is that it is often used as a form of barter (with the woman being the thing being bartered) or a way of silencing an accusation of rape or pedophilia.
Last week, a bill was being passed through the Tennessee statehouse that would have opened the door for a grownup to marry a child. As of this weekend, it was amended to ensure that the couple saying their vows are at least eighteen. The only reason why the minimum age was added was because of a lot of people who made a lot of noise.
These people claim to represent “family values”. But their image of “family values” is rooted in the past. By attempting to control the lives of Americans via the anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQ (i.e. the Don’t Say Gay law) legislation, they are again showing their true colors. They don’t care about the people of this country. They only care about catering to their base and the archaic ideas do not represent where this nation is going.
By holding onto what was, the GOP is holding us back. I firmly believe that we cannot let them do so. The only way to stop them is to vote them out and make sure that we have representatives in government who are doing the job we are paying them to do.
The proposed bill, according to a press release from Newsom, would allow Californians to sue “anyone who manufactures, distributes, or sells an assault weapon or ghost gun kit or parts” for damages — the same injunction-skirting mechanism Texas has used to ban all abortions after six weeks, which has so far been permitted by the Supreme Court.
The lawmakers who have created and enacted these draconian pieces of legislation knew exactly what they were doing. They knew that if their bills were written in a certain way, it would be impossible for the Supreme Court (or any court) to strike it down.
Bravo to Governor Newsom. At least someone is thinking rationally.
When it comes to abortion, the people who are against it believe in the right to life. They are entitled to their beliefs, but the question I have to ask is whose life is important and within what parameters?
The political spotlight has been in Texas for the past few weeks due to the new anti-abortion law that has galvanized the nation. The sad and disgusting irony is that while the powers that be in that state are concerned with the uterus’s of the female residents, they are ignoring the lives that are being lost due to Covid-19.
Kali Cook died from the virus last week. She was just four years old. Though she was too young to be vaccinated, her mother was not. Covid then passed to the entire family. As of this article, Kali was the only one whose life was taken. Speaking to the press, her mother said the following:
“I was one of the people that was anti, I was against it,” she said. “Now, I wish I never was.”
The question I have to ask Governor Abbott and other lawmakers is how many deaths it will take to open their eyes? The loss of this precious child and the millions of other Americans is on their hands. They know, as we all do, what we need to do to stop this disease and save lives. Instead, they continue on this path that will only lead to more Americans dead and a nation with scars that may never heal.
There is nothing more hypocritical than a politician speaking out of both sides of their mouth.
I wrote about the Texas abortion ban earlier this week. I am not the only one who is outraged by this law. Yesterday, actress and model Brooklyn Decker shared her thoughts via social media. When a state tightly controls women’s bodies, but is lax on gun control, their actions speak louder than any amount of words can. If this is what it means to be “pro-life“, I have to ask what they mean by stating this and whose lives are worthy of protection?
Abortion is more than the control of women’s bodies. It is the control of our destinies. Throughout most of human history, we have been beholden to the men around us. Now that we have been speaking up and taking control of our lives, the reaction by some (both men and women) is to pull us back via the figurative leash.
In Texas today, one of the most restrictive abortion bans became law today. One of the features of this law is that the average person on the street can sue abortion providers and anyone who helped the women (or a pregnant person) obtain the abortion. It does not matter if the person who is behind the lawsuit is any relation or knows either party that is being sued. This is on top of another heartbeat bill, which bans the procedure after six weeks. To add insult to injury, not even cases of rape or incest are given leeway.
This is a diversionary tactic. There is way too much shit going on in this country (Covid-19 being a good chunk of it) to focus on whether or not the decision to abort a pregnancy is made. This is a deeply personal and complicated decision between the woman who is pregnant, their spouse/partner (if there is one), and their doctor(s). I am all for freedom of religion, but that does not give one group the right to impose their beliefs on anyone else.
What is scary is that this bill has the potential truly damage, if not take down completely Roe V. Wade.
We need to focus of taking this nation forward and dealing with our issues. Telling a woman what to do with her body should not be on priority list to begin with.
P.S. We made a big deal about getting out as many women and young girls from Afghanistan over the past few weeks. But when it comes to the women in this country, some people still think that we live in the dark ages.
Writergurlny 
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