Submitted by Elaine Magliaro, Guest Blogger
Is there a Republican war on women? Paul Ryan, the GOP candidate for vice president, mocked the idea of any such thing when he made the following comment at a private fundraiser in Florida last week: “Now it’s a war on women; tomorrow it’s going to be a war on left-handed Irishmen or something like that.”
Ryan may think his party’s “war” on women is a topic of humor…something to be derided. He may perceive things like a woman’s right to determine what is best for her own health and well being differently from the way many of us of women do. After all, Ryan did cosponsor personhood, ultrasound, and “Let Women Die” legislation. He also supported the Blunt Amendment.
Ryan is not the only Republican politician who has brought his party’s comments and positions on women’s issues under scrutiny. Not long ago, Todd Akin, a senate candidate from Missouri, was skewered by the media when he made a claim that women who are victims of “legitimate” rape can’t get pregnant. And just last week, a comment made by Congressman Joe Walsh of Illinois about abortion brought the whole issue of the Republicans’ anti-woman attitude into the limelight once again. After Walsh’s debate with Democrat Tammy Duckworth the other night, he claimed that there is never any reason for a woman to have an abortion—even to protect her health or save her life.
Walsh said—and I quote: “There is no such exception as life of the mother, and as far as health of the mother, same thing, with advances in science and technology. Health of the mother has become a tool for abortions any time, under any reason.”
Continue reading “Rep. Joe Walsh of Illinois Insists That There Is Never Any Need for an Abortion to Save a Pregnant Woman’s Life Because of Advances in Science and Technology” →
We have been following the effort by police in the United States and abroad to make filming them in public a crime. For a prior column, click here. We can now add Spain to the list. The Spanish government has proposed a law banning the photographing and filming of members of the police. Since such films have been a major deterrent to police abuse, the law is viewed as understandably threatening to citizens as protests increase over Spain’s economic crisis. Last year, one such film caught police attacking protesters during a visit by the Pope. The Spanish government appears to have found a solution: rather than stop the abuse, you stop people filming the abuse.
