Why do female voters distrust the GOP? Some answers …
Mitt Romney says that he would support passage of a constitutional amendment stating that life begins at the moment of conception, a step that would not only bar abortion nationwide but would call into question the constitutionality of several widely accepted forms of contraception, including the IUD.
However, in typical Romney fashion, he also says that he believes the abortion issue should be decided at the state rather than federal level, which a constitutional amendment would preclude. So go figure.
His remaining opponents, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich, take that a step further, having signed the so-called “personhood” pledge stating that “all human beings at every stage of development are persons with the unalienable right to life.” Gingrich has taken that a step further, proposing that Congress can, by a simple act of legislation, decree that life begins at conception and that no federal court can review or overturn that finding.
As previously noted, President Obama holds a 20-point margin among women over his Republican opponents, a gender gap of astounding proportions. The positions outlined above help explain why that gap is so large.
For those needing further justification, I’d like to enter two pieces of photographic evidence into the record:
The panel above was assembled last week by the Republican-run House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to discuss mandatory coverage of female contraception in insurance plans.
Now, what do these experts discussing female contraception have in common? If you answered that they all oppose the Obama administration’s policy, you’d be correct. But they have something else in common as well.
Any guesses? The five in question are, from left to right, the Most Reverend William Lori, a Catholic bishop; the Reverend Dr. Matthew Harrison, president of the Missouri synod of the Lutheran Church; C. Benn Mitchell, a professor of moral philosophy at Union University, a conservative Christian college in Tennessee; Rabbi Meir Soloveichik, a conservative Orthodox leader; and Craig Mitchell, an ethics professor at the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Still no guesses? Look again. Do you notice, say, an absence of estrogen in the group?
In the committee’s defense, the next panel to testify did include two women: Dr. Allison Garrett of Oklahoma Christian University and Dr. Laura Champion of Calvin College, a conservative Christian school in Grand Rapids, Mich. But they too, like everyone else allowed to testify, opposed the Obama policy and discussed the issue not in terms of its impact on women, but in terms of its supposed impact on religious liberty. No supporters of the Obama policy were allowed to testify.
Here’s the second photograph:
In Virginia, the Republican-dominated state legislature is close to enacting a law that would require women seeking abortions to undergo ultrasounds to determine the gestational age of the fetus. However, in pregnancies of 10 weeks or less — when most abortions are sought — such tests can be conducted only through “transvaginal ultrasounds” performed with the instrument above.
Put candidly and clinically, the instrument must be inserted deep into a woman’s vagina and then manipulated until it produces a clear image.
Versions of the bill have passed both the House and Senate by overwhelming margins (63-36 in the House; 28-11 in the Senate). Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, a Republican often mentioned as a potential vice presidential nominee, has said he would sign the bill into law.
Think about that: As a condition of exercising her constitutional right to choose, a woman in Virginia must accept a government-mandated physical probe into her body, a probe that serves no medical function whatsoever. When Republicans argue that the Constitution offers no “right to privacy,” they clearly mean it, and this is where that line of thought inevitably leads them.
They give new meaning to the term “intrusive government,” and new inspiration for the growing gender gap.
– Jay Bookman
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© 2012 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
881 comments Add your comment
Josey Whales
February 20th, 2012
9:29 am
1st……………………twice in one year
Lord Help Us
February 20th, 2012
9:30 am
The GOP continues to marginalize itself. It created its own self defeating cycle…sad.
USinUK
February 20th, 2012
9:33 am
chicken voting for Col. Sanders.
s’all I’m sayin.
ProgressivePeach
February 20th, 2012
9:34 am
GOP rape probes. Perfect. Anyone here who says they support the GOP and its policies and leaders are supporters of government-dictated rape probing. How crazy/scary do these people have to be before EVERYONE in the country realizes they’re our Taliban?
USinUK
February 20th, 2012
9:34 am
as far as the Issa “hearing” (if one could call it that … “grandstanding” is closer to the truth) – you left out the kicker …
Issa actually DENIED a young woman from speaking at the hearing – she wanted to testify about the imact the birth control coverage meant for her life –
he said she wasn’t “an expert” …
as if the dickwads who DID testify are an expert in ovulation
JamVet - My god man, protect the billionaires!
February 20th, 2012
9:35 am
Jay, et al,
Here is another photo of that gang…
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/424123_349899615041307_174612345903369_1066805_2088564630_n.jpg
SOUTHERN ATL
February 20th, 2012
9:35 am
….excellent article Jay! Why is it always so hard for women to have true representation…..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfTXutDZa4s&feature=related
Steve - USA (I support "None Of The Above")
February 20th, 2012
9:36 am
It’s kind of like a man writing a column about what women think.
southdem
February 20th, 2012
9:37 am
A natural result of the Fox news/talk radio echo chamber in which the GOP is ensconced. After the shellacking they’ll get in November maybe they’ll break out of it.
Granny Godzilla
February 20th, 2012
9:38 am
Me?
Well I won’t stand for the setting up their smaller government in my uterus.
jm
February 20th, 2012
9:38 am
There was another panel that had women on it Jay. Nice selective data grabbing though.
godless heathen©
February 20th, 2012
9:39 am
Peach,
When I go in for a colonoscopy what do you call that?
(ir)Rational
February 20th, 2012
9:39 am
USinUK – Another thing all of those people had in common, with the possible exception of the college professor, is that they all come from religions/churches that don’t allow women to hold a very high position in the church. Not really sure what the Lutheran Church has against women having birth control though. Unless they’ve recently adopted it, they don’t have an official (or at least recognized/practiced) stance on that.
(ir)Rational
February 20th, 2012
9:40 am
Enter your comments here
Doggone/GA
February 20th, 2012
9:40 am
“When I go in for a colonoscopy what do you call that?”
voluntary
CJ
February 20th, 2012
9:40 am
My wife and I are currently going through IVF. We currently have about a dozen embryos in the freezer. The doctor implanted two embryos last fall, my wife became pregnant, but unfortunately, she miscarried. We’re going to thaw a couple more embryos and try again in a few weeks.
First of all, I find it odd that people are fighting for the lives of cells that can be frozen and then thawed months or even years later. Although I sometimes wonder if Republican politicians were frozen in the 19th century and recently thawed, I know better. Embryos are not human beings. Republican politicians are–just barely.
AmVet - Just say no to the GOP's fascist theocracy.
February 20th, 2012
9:41 am
Newsflash!
The 1950s are over.
That ANY woman would vote for Mitt, Ron, Newt or Rick is to me, unfathomable.
And I absolutely LOVE this one:
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/393985_3058042244502_1066751093_3024902_840620388_n.jpg
(ir)Rational
February 20th, 2012
9:41 am
Whoops. Hit the button instead of clicking inside the box.
Steve – I’m not sure anyone could ever actually write an article that encompassed what women (collectively) actually thought. Not even a woman.
Recon 0311 2533
February 20th, 2012
9:42 am
“President Obama holds a 20-point margin among women over his Republican opponents, a gender gap of astounding proportions.”
The Democrats didn’t enjoy that margin in the mid-term election we’ll learn the true accuracy of that poll this November.
Mr. Snarky
February 20th, 2012
9:42 am
The repubs are playing to their base again…this kind of stuff is what happens when leadership lacks any kind of perspective about what alienates the general population. Hopefully the dems can leverage this idiocy and beat the hell out of them.
USinUK
February 20th, 2012
9:42 am
Doggone – 9:40 – well played.
oh, and godless – IF you were forced to have a colonoscopy to buy a pack of condoms, you might have a point.
as it is … not so much.
Adam
February 20th, 2012
9:44 am
Jay Bookman
Why do female voters distrust the GOP?
The question is basically rhetorical. Even the GOP knows why they are distrusted by women now.
0311/1811
February 20th, 2012
9:44 am
Bumper Sticker:
“EQUAL RIGHTS FOR UNBORN WOMEN”
………… or another question would be “Why do so many conservative women work so hard for the GOP ?”
godless heathen©
February 20th, 2012
9:44 am
An abortion is not a voluntary proceedure?
USinUK
February 20th, 2012
9:44 am
well, I can’t speak for everyone else, but *I’M* just glad that the GOP made jobs their first priority …
oh.
wait.
nevermind …
CJ
February 20th, 2012
9:45 am
By the way, the Oklahoma state senate just passed legislation that would, essentially, outlaw IVF.
USinUK
February 20th, 2012
9:45 am
godless – “An abortion is not a voluntary proceedure?”
you don’t have the right to RAPE a woman with an object simply because she’s getting a procedure that you don’t approve of.
jm
February 20th, 2012
9:46 am
Our economy is 1/2 run by the government. How do you expect anything other than anemic growth when 1/2 the economy is run by the government? (fed, state, local together)
USinUK
February 20th, 2012
9:46 am
oh, sorry … not just RAPE the woman with an object – make her pay for the privelege, as well.
Aquagirl
February 20th, 2012
9:46 am
There is something fascinating about the GOP need to shove men like Gingrich, Santorum, and Cain into the spotlight. Sticking a knife in your own back takes some world class effort.
Midori
February 20th, 2012
9:48 am
Virginia is my home state
guess it’s not for lovers any more
Adam
February 20th, 2012
9:48 am
No supporters of the Obama policy were allowed to testify.
This, also, is another thing that needs to be pointed out in a larger context. Not only do conservatives largely only talk to their friends and listen to talk radio that reinforces and perhaps GIVES THEM their ideas, they also seek to avoid anything outside of that. Some to the point that they actually believe a majority of people think like them just because they make sure never to encounter anyone who doesn’t think like them, or they have relegated THOSE PEOPLE to the outer edges of what they consider an acceptable society, based on any number of supposed sins and evils.
Doggone/GA
February 20th, 2012
9:49 am
“An abortion is not a voluntary proceedure?”
Not germaine to the question of FORCED ultrasound probes
USinUK
February 20th, 2012
9:49 am
Doggone – 9:49 – call it what it is – it’s rape with an object.
Doggone/GA
February 20th, 2012
9:50 am
“Doggone – 9:49 – call it what it is – it’s rape with an object”
No argument there
Stevie Ray
February 20th, 2012
9:51 am
JAY,
Clearly this is a topic that favors the Left. I’m absolutely certain that if it weren’t for the religious right and all the non-taxable cash and votes they put in play with GOP, these candidates would not try to out “conservative” each other…Take away the mega-money on the far fringes of left and right and the idiotic (unions, greencrap, and religious) angles serving only as introductory negotiating fodder would go away….hopefully.
Adam
February 20th, 2012
9:51 am
Steve: It’s kind of like a man writing a column about what women think.
Or a white man speaking up about how racist a headline is against Jeremy Lin.
People CAN speak up for the rights of other racial, ethnic, and gender groups.
Oscar
February 20th, 2012
9:51 am
Life begins at sixty.
Oliver Wendell Holmes
Adam
February 20th, 2012
9:52 am
jm: There was another panel that had women on it Jay. Nice selective data grabbing though.
Nice selective READING jm.
ty webb
February 20th, 2012
9:52 am
Jay,
I give you credit for this accurate sentence:”The panel above was assembled last week by the Republican-run House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to discuss mandatory coverage of female contraception in insurance plans.” Unlike most of your water carrying ilk, you accurately describe the hearing. It was not a hearing on women’s contraception, it was a hearing on the mandate of women’s contraception. You do seem a little late with your slightly more accurately running of this meme(most of your “ilk” ran without it last week), but the gender makeup of the panel is actually of no importance to the hearing on the mandate…It would be important if it was a hearing on contraception…oh and kudos for refraining from using that ridiculous and false “98% of catholic women” stat thrown out by your prog comrades last week.
GenerationScrewed
February 20th, 2012
9:52 am
Jay,
Yep, sure glad that dilators, a hand held suction device, a tube and a curette won’t be inserted into the vagina as well….
That is a powerful picture you post there though…..but what about these??????????????
http://www.google.com/search?pq=what+is+put+in+a+woman+during+an+abortion&hl=en&gs_nf=1&cp=12&gs_id=11&xhr=t&q=aborted+babies&rlz=1R2ADSA_enUS453&gs_upl=&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&biw=1920&bih=946&wrapid=tljp1329749405460022&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=ol1CT-v1LMf3gAe4t5GFCA
Now what is worse the pictures in the link above or a picture of equipment used in a transvaginal ultrasound????
Keep Up the Good Fight!
February 20th, 2012
9:52 am
The Republicans wage war against immigrants, women, gays and muppets….. who can they add to their list next week.
carlosgvv
February 20th, 2012
9:52 am
It’s been clear for sometime now that far-right born-again Christian males are very similar, when it comes to their attitudes on women, to Muslim men. Should these people gain the political power they crave, women in America will begin to be treated more and more like women in Moslem countries. In other words, these men have a deep-seated contempt and hatred of women. “By their fruits you shall know them”.
Aquagirl
February 20th, 2012
9:53 am
When I go in for a colonoscopy what do you call that?
“Enough of your minor problems, what about MEEEEEEEEEEEEEE?”
Way to elevate man-whining to new levels, godless.
Doggone/GA
February 20th, 2012
9:53 am
“In other words, these men have a deep-seated contempt and hatred of women.”
they do, but the basis of that contempt and hatred is FEAR. They FEAR women.
Atlanta Mom
February 20th, 2012
9:54 am
So godless, maybe you’d like a mammogram to go with your voluntary colonoscopy.
Adam
February 20th, 2012
9:54 am
Doggone: Not germaine to the question of FORCED ultrasound probes
You lost them at “germaine”….
Oscar
February 20th, 2012
9:54 am
Newt thinks congress can pass a law that says it can’t be overturned by a federal court as being unconstitutional. As a historian he has just ignored the Constitution and 200 years of constitutional law.
Midori
February 20th, 2012
9:54 am
When I go in for a colonoscopy what do you call that?
your happy hour?
Adam
February 20th, 2012
9:56 am
ty: but the gender makeup of the panel is actually of no importance to the hearing on the mandate
Bullsh*t. Banning contraception from being covered by ALL insurance plans if someone objects on a religious basis is absolutely something that women should have a say in.