What the Anti-Choice Movement Will Do Next

Here is a list of the “5 Dirty Tricks Right-Wing Zealots Will Likely Try Next in Their Battle to Control Women” by Amanda Marcotte (via AlterNet), and she concludes that there hasn’t been “a more sustained assault on women’s rights in recent memory as what we saw in 2011.”

“The anti-choice movement showed its true face in 2011. No longer can liberals believe that anti-choicers are just goofy but well-meaning fetus worshippers. Now it’s undeniable that they are mainly an anti-feminist movement that attacks women’s rights because they want to roll back all of the gains women have made in recent decades. Showing their true face has helped educate and mobilize people who were pro-choice but unaware of how serious the situation really is. Now that we know, perhaps 2012 can be the year we double down on fighting back.”

Tanya Somanader writes in Thinkprogress Health about  The GOP’s 10 Most Extreme Attacks On A Woman’s Right To Choose An Abortion, which include the redefinition of rape, abortion audits and forced ultrasounds to name just a few:

“2011 marked a banner year in the Republican war on woman’s health. Close to 1,000 anti-abortion bills sped through state legislatures as the GOP-led House led a “comprehensive and radical assault” on a federal level. But in surveying their arsenal this year, 10 bills stood out as particularly perturbing and far-reaching efforts to stymie women’s access to abortion services, birth control, and vital health services like breast cancer screenings.” 

 

Healthcare Coverage and Abortions…

In case you needed a reminder how bleak the situation regarding women’s reproductive rights across the United States really is, ACLU provides this interactive map about bans on insurance coverage of abortion in various states.

“In several states, lawmakers are singling out abortion and prohibiting insurance companies from including abortion coverage in their policies. The trend is fast-moving and startling: since 2010, 4 states passed bans on abortion coverage and another 9 banned coverage in their soon-to-be-active exchanges. While alarming, this trend represents a renewed effort to deny women insurance coverage for abortion care. “

 

The Republican Candidates on Abortion


The New York Times
has a break down of  the Republican Presidential Candidates’ views on abortion, which is an eye-opener.

Rick Santorum has emerged as having the most extreme views on reproductive rights:

“To put rape or incest victims through another trauma of an abortion, I think is too much to ask.”  (Aug. 11, 2011, The New York Times)

“One of the things I will talk about, that no president has talked about before, is I think the dangers of contraception in this country.”  […]  “Many of the Christian faith have said, well, that’s okay, contraception is okay. It’s not okay. It’s a license to do things in a sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be.” (Rick Santorum, quoted in Slate on Jan. 4, 2012)

More than that: Santorum is only pro choice when it comes to himself.  Case in point, Trust Women/SR’s Ellen Shaffer blogged here, in Santorum: Our Abortion Was Different:” “Rick Santorum is one dangerously confused denialist.” Jezebel’s revealing article “Rick Santorum’s Anti-Abortion Politics Would Have Killed His Own Wife” also noted:

“Mr. Ban Abortion in All Circumstances With No Exception for the Life of the Mother, believes that the actions of his own wife should be treated as criminal. Why? Because, back in 1996, his wife had a procedure that resulted in the deliberate death of her fetus, even though it was a matter of saving her own life.”

In its Jan. 8, 2012, editorial ”Republicans Versus Reproductive Rights,” The New York Times sums up the Republican presidential candidates’ views:

“The Republican field is united in its determination to overturn Roe v. Wade; to appoint Supreme Court justices supportive of that goal; and to end government payments to Planned Parenthood for family planning services, cancer screening and other vital health services provided to low-income women.”

2011: A Bad Year for Reproductive Rights

According to an article in The Economist titled “Unintended Issues,”

“Last year saw a surge in social conservatism. It has been said that social issues inspire Americans to vote against their economic interests: a factory worker elects an anti-abortion Republican; in return he gets anti-union laws. Last year the adage was reversed. In 2010 Americans voted for economic austerity; in 2011 they got abortion restrictions. For those who oppose abortion, it was the most promising year in decades.”

Sarah Kliff wrote in The Washington Post under the headline ” The year of the abortion restrictions,”

“[A] rise in the number of anti-abortion governors and legislators has an enormous impact on the abortion rights landscape, paving the way for laws that could shape access for years to come.”

Jezebel posted in its 2011 year in review a sobering account under the headline “The year in your uterus” and concluded:

“It’s been a wild year for your uterus, and 2012 promises to be even crazier. We’ve got a Presidential election to look forward to, and political candidates love to talk about their agenda for your uterus when they try to win votes. Best festoon the thing in red, white, and blue; they’ve set up camp in your uterus, and they’re not going away any time soon.”