What "President Romney" Would Mean for Women

Mitt Romney and most of the GOP have shown themselves to be real enemies of LGBT Americans.  But gays are hardly the party's only targets.  Minorities of all stripes and women remain in the cross hairs of a white patriarchal agenda.   While issues - job numbers, an anti-poor and middle class budget agenda - have distracted the debate, women in particular would be foolish to believe that the GOP war on women isn't real and/or has ceased.  An article in Rolling Stone looks at what a President Romney working with a GOP controlled House of Representatives could mean for American women the vast majority of which do not have the hired help and luxury that Ann Romney experienced as an "at home mother."  Here are article highlights:

Mitt Romney wants you to know that he and his party are "extraordinarily pro-woman" – "pro-opportunity for women, pro-moms, pro-working moms, pro-working women," as he put it on Fox News the other night. .  .  .  .   Ever since Obama opened up a double-digit lead with women voters during the recent controversies over birth control, Republicans from Romney on down have worked hard to steer the conversation away from divisive social issues that make them look like religious nuts and back to more swing voter-friendly territory.

The conservative push to change the subject has basically succeeded, albeit with an assist from lousy job numbers. This is dangerous.  .   .   .   .  the real and continuing Republican drive to set back women’s rights and opportunities – remains very much alive.   And make no mistake: A Romney presidency will only escalate the assault. Let's take a look at exactly how, starting with the issue he says will attract women voters to the Republican ticket.

The Economy

American women earn on average 23 percent less than men – which adds up to an average loss of $383,000 in income over a working lifetime. Romney’s campaign couldn’t say recently whether their man would have signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act making it easier for women to file pay discrimination lawsuits   .   .   .   .    Democrats are pushing the Paycheck Fairness Act, which directly addresses the male-female pay disparity by putting teeth into the half-century old Equal Pay Act. Republicans oppose it and even deny the facts about wage inequality.

Romney famously declared,"I like being able to fire people," and certainly he got a lot of practice during his tenure at the private equity firm Bain Capital (where women made up only 10 percent of 95 vice-presidents when Romney was in charge). And a President Romney will be issuing plenty of pink slips to at least one large group of working women: public employees.  .   .   .   (Of the 601,000 government workers thrown out of work since June 2009 due to budget cuts, two out three were women.)

 

All of which is to say: Under a President Romney, expect economic progress for women to grind to a halt. And what about women’s sexual freedom and reproductive rights? On those issues, be prepared for a warp-speed ride in reverse.

Abortion

"Do I believe the Supreme Court should overturn Roe v. Wade? Yes, I do," Romney said during one debate, talking about the 1973 Supreme Court decision that affirmed a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion. He also has called the decision "one of the darkest moments in Supreme Court history."

The next president will almost certainly have the power to determine whether Roe stands or falls. There is currently a 5-4 pro-Roe majority on the Supreme Court. Yet Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the Court’s most eloquent defender of women’s rights, including abortion rights, is 83 and in failing health, and likely to retire during the next presidency.

Take Romney at his word: If he wins, Roe v. Wade will be overturned, leaving it up to the states to decide whether abortion remains legal.  Romney and other establishment Republicans tout states rights as the way to resolve a contentious issue in a divided country. "I would love the Supreme Court to say, 'Let’s send this back to the states,'"  .   .   .   Republicans would prefer you not look too closely at their platform, which calls for outlawing all abortions, without exception.

 In 2005, Gov. Romney vetoed a bill requiring hospitals to provide emergency contraception to rape victims. He justified the move by citing the anti-birth control claptrap of the rightwing fringe that the morning after pill is a form of abortion.

The recent wave of state Personhood amendments and laws suggests this is not a far-fetched scenario. Personhood measures endow fertilized eggs with full legal rights, typically ban abortion in all cases, including rape and incest, and open the door to bans on in-vitro fertilization, the IUD, and hormonal contraception.

Contraception
In January, when Romney was cruising to the nomination, he ridiculed George Stephanopoulus for asking him, during a presidential debate, if he thought states had a right to ban contraception. "George, this is an unusual topic that you’re raising," he huffed.

Six weeks later Romney had endorsed the Blunt-Rubio Amendment, which would have allowed any employer to claim a "moral objection" and exclude potentially millions of women from getting birth control under their insurance coverage.

 Even after Romney had wrapped up the nomination and the Blunt Amendment had been defeated, the presumptive Republican nominee was still campaigning against the contraception mandate.

Romney had also pledged to restore George W. Bush’s so-called "conscience clause" allowing anyone in the health care delivery chain, say a clerk in a pharmacy, the right to refuse to sell contraceptives.

As long as Republicans retain control of the House – a near certainty if the GOP wins the presidency – Romney would have the power to deliver on these promises, and the substantial advances in women’s reproductive rights made under Obama will be reversed.

Ten days ago Romney campaigned in the crucial swing state of Virginia alongside Michele Bachmann and Governor Bob McDonnell. Bachmann praised Romney as the man who could "take the country back."  Back to what? Bachmann didn’t say. Now you know.

 

Woman who want to control their own lives and bodies need to wake up.  Romney and the Republican Party remain the enemy of women's rights even though the short attention span of the mainstream media has moved on to other issues.  The threat, however, remains very real.