Friday, April 08, 2011

Political Tangent for My Daughters

Count down to shut down! Democrats and Republicans are still negotiating over the federal budget, and the things that are holding them up now are "social issues." According to the New York Times, Republican demands include:

No federal financing for Planned Parenthood because it performs abortions. Instead, state administration of federal family planning funds, which means that Republican governors and legislatures will not spend them.

• No local financing for abortion services in the District of Columbia.

• No foreign aid to countries that might use the money for abortion or family planning. And no aid to the United Nations Population Fund, which supports family-planning services.

• No regulation of greenhouse gases by the Environmental Protection Agency.

• No funds for health care reform or the new consumer protection bureau established in the wake of the financial collapse.


While the last two bullets get me frothing at the mouth, I am [insert adjective of your choice: horrified, dismayed, shocked, saddened, disgusted] that this all comes back to fucking abortion. This is not about abortion. This is, to get all 90s on you, a culture war about who believes in family planning and women's rights and programs that help women and children (mostly poor) and those that don't. Essentially, what the government shutdown is about is whether or not you care about women and their health. This is not about money.

So how do I explain that my daughter and stepdaughter? How do I explain that the government is probably going to shut down because you don't matter, and the health of people like you, the health of other women who represent 51 PERCENT of the population, is unimportant? That you have one party, led by an oompa loompa with a glandular problem (trademark SKB), that is totally okay with leaving millions of that 51 percent without access to healthcare, cancer screenings, contraception, pre and post natal support, and yes abortion? And you have another party that seems to completely lack the balls to do anything about it? How do I explain to MG and Zygote that ALL of those politicians are using my daughters' health and my health as political bargaining chip?

This isn't rhetorical. I'm asking how you're doing it.

Because while I can get all jazzed about telling my daughters they can be just about anything and do anything, it's really hard to feel like any of us really matter when I see shit like this.

1 comment:

JenLanger said...

I don't know, but I'm asking the same question.