States keep chipping away at women’s rights
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By Robert F. Boyd
Social and legal discrimination against women has been a major part of human history since Adam and Eve. In the not-too-distant past, women could not own property, could not vote, were subjugated at home, at church, in educational institutions and in the workforce. So it should be no surprise to learn of the reproductive discrimination that is currently in vogue within the community of right-wingers. The elephant in the room has always been abortion rights or the pro-choice movement.
Most states before 1973 regarded abortion to be illegal. In that year, the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision allowing abortion to become legal drove the social conservatives batty. Politicians looking to satisfy their voter base have sought to overturn that decision by systematically chipping away at the law of the land. This has resulted in an assault on Planned Parenthood and its clinics where abortions are legally performed.
Boyd is a former professor and science writer. He lives in Daleville.
March 13, 2013 - 6:15 AM
This was a well written article that I enjoyed very much.
It’s important to realize this type of thing isn’t just at the State level. See this Editorial from the NY Times for more examples.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/12/opinion/concerns-at-un-conference-on-violence-against-women.html
….United Nations is any guide, that message has not resounded with the necessary urgency. Halfway into their two-week annual meeting, delegates to the Commission on the Status of Women fear they will not be able to agree on a final communiqué, just like last year.
Who is to blame? Delegates and activists are pointing fingers at the Vatican, Iran and Russia for trying to eliminate language in a draft communiqué asserting that the familiar excuses — religion, custom, tradition — cannot be used by governments to duck their obligation to eliminate violence……
Conservative hard-liners seem determined to fight it out again. They have also objected to references to abortion rights, as well as language suggesting that rape also includes forcible behavior by a woman’s husband or partner. Poland, Egypt, other Muslim states and conservative American Christian groups have criticized one or more parts of the draft……..
Gender-based violence is an epidemic. A World Bank report estimated that more women between the ages of 15 and 44 were at risk from rape and domestic violence than from cancer, car accidents, war and malaria combined. According to the United Nations and other sources, more than 600 million women live in countries where domestic violence is not considered a crime and more than 3 million girls are facing female genital mutilation. Women in all social, economic, ethnic and religious groups are affected……..
I whole-heartedly agree that “gender-based violence” remains an epidemic, even as education and society have both evolved the mindset for many nations and religions.
It is still entirely too real and too often, even in this nation!
http://lightbox.time.com/2013/02/27/photographer-as-witness-a-portrait-of-domestic-violence/#1
As the Vatican gains a new Pope, it is hoped that they will gain the humility and humanity to do more for the women who worship and suffer. I am not holding my breath. Too many, like Mother Teresa, walked a pious path but believed the suffering of the poor in general and women in particular was something to be dealt with, not necessarily alleviated.