Have you been paying attention to U.S. politics lately? The U.S. Senate thankfully just voted down a bill to defund any family planning clinic that offers abortion, including Planned Parenthood. Abortion already cannot be federally funded. Instead, the Title X funds in question serve to create affordable pelvic and breast exams, HIV and STI testing, cancer screenings, birth control and related doctor's visits. Eliminating funding for Title X would make the continued existence of Planned Parenthood nearly impossible. The disappearance of Planned Parenthood would keep millions of Americans from access to basic healthcare. As Planned Parenthood functions on a sliding scale of payment based on income, this disappearance would have the harshest effect on low−income families without health insurance, who see the greatest benefit from Title X funding.
But thanks to the enormous wave of public support through petitioning and contacting congress, the legislation has been struck down for now — but negotiations on it are set to resume, and separate proposals have already reentered the House. Instead of breathing a collective sigh of relief that Planned Parenthood has been allowed a brief continuance, we need to push even harder against new legislation — legislation that the media has begun to call a "war on women" because of its multifaceted and insidious attacks on women's rights.
To put it simply, this fight will not be easy. The House has recently seen an influx of freshmen Republican representatives who are pushing forth bills touted as ideological warfare. These bills have raised criticisms from the media for attacking not only women, but also the poor, the young and blue−collar workers. These bills, if nothing else, are undeniably divisive. Representative Joe Pitts (R−Pa.) introduced a bill (H.R. 358) that would allow hospitals the right to refuse to provide emergency abortions, even when necessary to save a woman's life. Another bill (H.R. 3), introduced by Representative Chris Smith (R−N.J.), would make obtaining health insurance covering abortion nearly impossible in two ways. First, it would impose tax penalties on families and small businesses if their private insurance covers abortions, which pertains to 87 percent of existing insurance plans. It also stipulates that if an individual receives federal funding for health insurance, their policy cannot cover abortions. Bills such as these ones, stemming from an ideological extreme, serve to magnify party lines and strengthen the divides within Congress.
Outside of Washington, D.C., there has been a staggering wave of legislation attacking women's reproductive rights. There are currently bills presented in Nebraska, Iowa and South Dakota that would decriminalize the murder of an abortion provider, equating it to justifiable homicide. In Georgia, a bill has been introduced that would require criminal investigations of all miscarriages to rule out "human involvement." This bill makes "human involvement" in miscarriages a felony, punishable by life imprisonment or the death penalty.
If the legislation only aimed to reduce access to abortion that would be one thing, but, in fact, budget cuts in Congress and in state legislatures are focusing on cutting programs that aid low−income women and families in general. House Republicans aim to significantly cut funding for the Women, Infants and Children nutritional program, Head Start and maternal and prenatal health care. Maryland significantly cut funding for preschool programs for low−income children. In Georgia, legislation was introduced that would rename victims of stalking, domestic violence and sexual assault as "accusers" instead of "victims" in a court of law. As David Bernstein of The Boston Phoenix explains, the attempts at union−busting in Wisconsin have been focused on reducing the bargaining power for female−dominated professions such as nurses, teachers and social workers, while leaving police officers and firefighters unscathed.
These kinds of budget cuts are generally unpopular in the United States, and many Americans are calling for cuts in the homeland security and defense budgets instead of an extension of Bush−era tax−cuts. Republicans are employing the tactic of introducing a high volume of controversial legislation simultaneously, making it difficult to draw public attention to every potentially harmful bill. We can't let these kinds of budget cuts happen. While sacrifices need to be made in order to decrease the deficit, social service programs that benefit low−income women and families are not the programs that should lose funding. In fact, these social service programs ultimately save taxpayers money. For every dollar invested in Title X, taxpayers save slightly less than four dollars.
Talk to your friends, call your senators and representatives, go to a protest, and send the message that you don't support cutting funding that currently helps poor women and children. Check out Tufts VOX on Facebook for updates.
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