Romney/Ryan: A World of Harm for Women

This blog has noted the dangers posed to women by a Mitt Romney/Paul Ryan victory on November 6th.  As the father of two bright and independent daughters, I can think of few things more frightening than two spoiled, out of touch, devoid of empathy white men and their Christofascist allies making decisions for my daughters - both of who I suspect are far more intelligent than Messrs. Romney and Ryan.  But the danger posed by these men is not a threat to not only women in America but to many women around the world.  The New York Times looks at what a Romney/Ryan victory will mean for women across the globe.  Here are editorial highlights:

If Mitt Romney and his vice-presidential running mate, Representative Paul Ryan, were to win next month’s election, the harm to women’s reproductive rights would extend far beyond the borders of the United States. 

In this country, they would support the recriminalization of abortion with the overturning of Roe v. Wade, and they would limit access to contraception and other services. But they have also promised to promote policies abroad that would affect millions of women in the world’s poorest countries, where lack of access to contraception, prenatal care and competent help at childbirth often results in serious illness and thousands of deaths yearly. And the wreckage would begin on Day 1 of a Romney administration. 

Mr. Romney has pledged that, on his first day in the White House, he would reinstate the “global gag rule,” the odious restriction that has been used to deny federal money for family-planning work abroad to any organization that provided information, advice, referrals or services for legal abortion or supported the legalization of abortion, even using its own money. 

The gag rule did nothing to prevent use of government financing for abortions because that was already illegal under federal law. But it badly hampered the work of family-planning groups overseas, forcing clinic closures, reduced services and fee increases. It also violated principles of informed consent by requiring health care providers to withhold medical information from female patients. 

Republican opponents of family planning and women’s reproductive autonomy in Congress have been trying to reinstate the gag rule by legislation. If elected, Mr. Romney has said he would do so with a stroke of the pen. 

Mr. Romney also vows to renew another of George W. Bush’s shameful policies (which was ended by President Obama), which blocked the United States from contributing to the United Nations Population Fund. That fund supports programs in some 150 countries to improve poor women’s reproductive health, reduce infant mortality, end the sexual trafficking of women and prevent the spread of H.I.V.

House Republicans want to cut the nation’s investment in international family planning severely. Mr. Romney’s record of bending to suit the most extreme elements of the Republican Party suggests that he may well go along on this critical issue as well. 

The irony that always strikes me about the Christianists and their political whores like Messrs. Romney and Ryan is that they claim to be "pro-life," seek to stop all abortion and worship unborn fetuses, yet once children are born, they generally do not give a flying f*ck about those very same children as they are left to lives lives in poverty and may die prematurely.  Obviously, if these individuals were truly pro-life their concerns would not cease once a fetus is born.