One of the nice things about being part of a movement is that when you’re tired or hacking your lungs up or just plain wrapped up in your own life for a little while, someone is still organizing and inspiring. In this case, it’s the Center for Inquiry recognizing that the recent war on women’s reproductive rights is a secular issue.
It is inescapable. Every day, the news tells us about another move by politicians and interest groups to curtail the rights of women to make their own choices about their health, their bodies, and their day-to-day lives. And without failure, these initiatives are undertaken by those who take their cues from outmoded and archaic notions of women’s roles as dictated by some people’s (usually men’s) interpretations of religious doctrine. Religion is being wielded as a weapon in a war against women, and it’s plain for all to see.
The Center for Inquiry (CFI) is proud to lend its support to an effort aimed at disarming that weapon and reasserting every woman’s right to equal treatment in all areas of society, be it health care, employment, family or any other arena in which women’s basic humanity is subject to denigration or denial. CFI is delighted to join with the Unite Women campaign as an endorsing organization.
Dren Asselmeier has more on the specific measures that have been proposed or enacted:
- Virginia legislators recently tried to enact an invasive, mandatory “trans-vaginal ultrasound” measure for women seeking abortions.
- In Mississippi, lawmakers took a cue from Virginia and are now pushing the same type of regressive, restrictive legislation.
- Texas Governor, Rick Perry, has ended funding to Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers under the Texas Women’s Health Program.
- GOP presidential candidates want to end Medicaid funding and turn it into block grants.
- Personhood legislation and amendments are being actively pushed through state legislatures in attempts to criminalize contraception and family planning.
- State voter registration laws that suppress voter turnout – especially among poor women, seniors and minorities – are already in place and spreading.
And what CFI is doing to help:
In the coming days, CFI will be working with Unite Women to connect their staff with our established network of supporters and volunteers. Several college campuses will be having rallies that you can attend in order to “loudly denounce the ongoing attacks on women from the extreme right.” Click on your state on the main page at UniteWomen.org to see what is happening in your area.
Check it all out. Me, I’m going back to bed so I’m hopefully well again by the time the rallies roll around.
