Thursday, March 01, 2012

Vigilance Is Key

It is not a surprise to me that women's rights are under seige again. From the early part of the Twentieth Century, women have fought, first for the right to vote and then for equal rights in the workplace .  We have also fought for the right to make our own decisions about reproduction (Roe v Wade). We stayed at it through the 1970s, then we dropped the ball.

Our daughters and granddaughters seemed to think the fight was over, the battle won. Thanks, Mom, Grandma, we'll take it from here. We have all we're going to get, we'll have these rights forever, now, and we can move on.  WRONG.

As any other minority can tell us, the fight is never over.  Unless we stay vigilant, we're doomed to slide backward, which is exactly what is happening We've become so complacent, conservatives feel the time is right to undo all the strides made by women in the past.

And, they've found the perfect vehicle to kill two birds with one stone - Obamacare. They think they see a way to repeal or damage the health care law and, just for the fun of it, take away the reproductive rights of those uppity women who should be barefoot and back in the kitchen, where they belong.

There couldn't be a clearer wake-up call for women to mobilize, again, and protect their hard-fought rights, and keep on fighting. First, we have to go to the polls en masse and vote the bastards out. Then, we have to stay vigilant so our hard-won rights will stay safe.

We may have won some battles in the past, but the war rages on.

Stay tuned.

9 comments:

Lo said...

You are so right.....how sad.

Margie's Musings said...

Absolutely!!

Notice it's nearly always men who object to women's rights. I say if women don't get contraceptives covered, men should not get vasectomies or Viagra covered.

Peggy said...

The wheels seem to have come off the bus when it comes to womens health lately.

I say, "No uterus, no opinion!"

Ben said...

I'm torn...I'm an avid supporter of women's rights, but my biggest, absolute, unequivocal concern this election cycle is the deficit and the national debt. For that reason, at least next week, I'll be voting for Ron Paul. When it comes time for the General, I'm not sure what to do (likely because Paul won't be on that ballot).

Obama adding 5 Trillion to the debt is totally unacceptable. Unfortunately, I think I'll ultimately end up having to choose between a Giant Douche and a Turd Sandwich:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5gXRPXs0PQ

Meryl Baer said...

It baffles me how the debate moved from real issues - war, the debt, jobs, the economy, education, energy, infrastructure - to women's (reproductive) rights. We should make every effort to vote out every single Senator (who is running this year) who voted for the Blunt amendment today. The same for the representatives who vote for a similar bill in the House. They are all up for re-election.

Kay Dennison said...

It just goes to show how that we haven't made as much progress as we thought -- but I knew that.

Kell said...

As I sat knitting with a group of women last night, we started talking about that farce going on in DC and realized there were women in their 20s there who had no idea what we were talking about. One of the ladies said the same things you did, that these young women need to pay attention and speak up because there are men who want to take away what those before us have worked so hard for. Don't take it for granted.

NitWit1 said...

Despite certain real moral concerns about right to life, etc. which I respect, but do not necessarily agree with in all circumstances, the main reason thre are fewer American babies readily available for adoption is the option of effective birth control. In the late 1930s when I was born and put up for adoption my eventual parents had 7 babies to chose from. Secondly, many women keep their babies which is another story entirely which I refuse to judge.

Grayquill said...

Okay first off women are not a minority. Second of all...Hmmmm, I don't really have anything else. Well I do have my own stubbornness, it seems a shame to give that up now.