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Election

Former Republican Congresswoman Blasts Modern GOP, Laments Party’s Approach To Women’s Issues

By Josh Israel on May 25, 2012 at 5:38 pm

Former Rep. Connie Morella (R-MD)

Former Rep. Connie Morella (R-MD)

Over her eight terms as a Congresswoman from Maryland’s Eight District, Connie Morella earned a reputation one of the strongest voices for women’s rights and reproductive choice in the Republican Party. A bipartisan-minded moderate, she worked with members of both parties to shepherd the 2000 re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act through the House with a 415 to 3 majority. Like former Sen. John Danforth (R-MO), she hardly recognizes her party today.

In an interview with ThinkProgress, Morella expressed disappointment with the anti-women voting record of the 24-member Republican Women’s Policy Committee and the lack of bipartisan House support for the Senate version of the Violence Against Women Act.

Among her observations:

On the GOP’s move to the right:
I think the [Republican] Party has moved more towards the right and it has become more solidified in terms of not offering opportunities for other voices to be heard. Look at [Indiana Republican Senate Nominee Richard] Mourdock’s statement when he proclaimed victory: I’m not going to give into them, they’re going to come over to me. The word compromise is not even in the lexicon, let alone an understanding of what it means.

On moderates in Congress:
I went to Harvard in 2008. My program’s theme was “An Endangered Species: A Moderate in the House of Representatives.” If I were to go back now, I think I’d have to say “An Extinct Species,” not endangered, extinct.

On the GOP-only Women’s Policy Committee:
I’ve always said that when you look at Congress, you had more bipartisanship with Congressional Caucus for Women’s Issues. The number of issues has gotten smaller… I was the prime sponsor in 2000 of the Violence Against Women Act, when it was reauthorized… On the floor, there was hardly a vote against it. And now, I don’t know why these women have been cornered, so to speak. Maybe they are motivated by the fact that this is an election year — and in a presidential election particularly, they want to act to counter the concept of the War on Women. That’s why they’re coming up with their own caucus, I suppose. I’ve always felt [the women's caucus] needed to be bipartisan… I think it’s a defensive attempt on the part of this caucus, because they’re concerned.

On a backlash for the GOP’s votes on women’s issues:
Women are a majority of the voting bloc. If they sense that some of the equities they worked so hard for are being taken away, you’ll see a backlash.

While she thinks the economy will be the biggest issue in the 2012 elections, she warns that if House Republicans insist on a Violence Against Women Act that says “except certain women,” it could hurt the party in November.

Morella says she’s disappointed with where the Republican Party has gone. “If I were there, I’d be one of the minorities voting against the party. There’s no big tent, not even a small tent. It collapsed.”

NEWS FLASH

Female Soldiers Sue For The Right To Fight On The Front Lines | Two female soldiers filed a lawsuit yesterday arguing that they have the constitutional right to fight on the front lines in combat. U.S. Army reservists Jane Baldwin and Ellen Haring say that the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection if the law ensures that they cannot be discriminated against when it comes to combat duty. The military has already expanded some spots to women, but Baldwin and Haring are seeking full equality. They have named Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and other military officials as the defendants in their case.

Economy

5 Things You Should Know About The Paycheck Fairness Act

By Annie-Rose Strasser on May 24, 2012 at 11:40 am

Senate Democrats, led by five female Senators, began a renewed push this week to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act, a bill that protects women who sue over being paid less than their male counterparts.

But, as with much of the recent pro-woman legislation, the measure will spark a partisan fight. On Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) began efforts to prevent the vote from being filibustered. “Republicans deny they’re waging a war on women,” Reid said on the floor Thursday morning, “yet they’ve launched a series of attacks on women’s access to health care and contraception this year. Now they have an opportunity to back up their excuses with action.”

Here are five things you need to know about the Paycheck Fairness Act:

1. The Paycheck Fairness Act is not new: Democrats, however, have struggled to get it passed. Last time it came up for a vote, the House passed it with very little bipartisan support. Then Senate Republicans unanimously voted against the bill. Even if they had passed it, though, then-President George W. Bush vowed to veto it.

2. Pay equity is a real problem: Nearly half of all workers in the United States are women. But women tend to hold lower-paying jobs overall, and even when they have the exact same title as men, they make significantly less. Overall, women make 77 cents to a man’s dollar, and in some professions, specifically high-paying careers, that disparity is much higher. The Paycheck Fairness Act would help close the gap more quickly by providing incentives for employers not to discriminate.

3. Lost earnings have serious consequences: The amount of money an average woman loses to the pay gap could feed a family of four. And while the wage gap is slowly shrinking, at its current rate it won’t actually disappear for 45 years. Still, more women are becoming the primary breadwinners or dual-earners in their family, with nearly 40 percent of women out-earning their husbands and a larger number of women with high degrees entering the job market.

4. Existing law doesn’t go far enough: The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act ensured that a woman has the proper window of time to sue for pay discrimination. The Paycheck Fairness Act takes significant steps to close loopholes in the original pay discrimination law, the Equal Pay Act, and to ensure that women can investigate whether they are being discriminated against. It also makes stronger penalties so that employers don’t violate pay discrimination laws. Included in the bill, too, is a grant for a salary-negotiation training program for women, who tend to be reluctant to negotiate.

5. Mitt Romney has not taken a position on the bill: After a very awkward moment over the Lilly Ledbetter Act, a spokesperson for his campaign said that Romney “supports pay equity and is not looking to change current law.” But it’s unclear whether this means Romney would support a new piece of legislation that protects women who don’t have full pay equity.

NEWS FLASH

Fundamentalists Target Afghan Girls School With Poison | Following a similar attack last month, 120 Afghan students at a girls school were targeted with poison in the country’s northern Takhar Province. Authorities blamed the Taliban, which has a record of attacking girls schools, for the poisoning. One hundred twenty school girls and three teachers suffered from poisoning due to an unidentified airborne agent. The U.N. mission there called on the U.S.-led NATO forces to “ensure that effective security measures are in place to protect schools, students, and teachers.” Reuters released this photograph of one student being treated in the hospital:

Health

Woman Kicked Off Flight For Wearing A Pro-Choice T-Shirt

By Annie-Rose Strasser on May 23, 2012 at 12:30 pm

A woman was not allowed to board her connecting flight Tuesday because she was wearing a pro-choice shirt that was too offensive, according to American Airlines.

The woman emailed Jodi Jacobson, editor-in-chief of RH Reality Check, recounting the experience:

Right before we were set to land the flight attendant from first class approaches me and asks if I had a connecting flight? We were running a bit behind schedule, so I figured I was being asked this to be sure I would make my connecting flight. She then proceeded to tell me that I needed to speak with the captain before disembarking the plane and that the shirt I was wearing was offensive.

The shirt was gray with the wording, “If I wanted the government in my womb, I’d fuck a senator.” I must also mention that when I boarded the plane, I was one of the first groups to board (did not pass by many folks). I was wearing my shawl just loosely around my neck and upon sitting down in my seat the lady next to me, who was already seated, praised me for wearing the shirt.

The shirt’s words are actually lifted from a sign used by Oklahoma state Sen. Judy McIntyre (D) at a pro-choice rally. McIntyre told critics who found her sign offensive that “I would hope they would have that same passion about how offensive it is for the Republican Party of Oklahoma to ramrod, because they have the votes to do so, bills that are offensive to women and take away the rights of women.”

American Airlines has an exceptionally strict dress policy, according to CNN. It says that “it can refuse to transport you, or may remove you from your flight for reasons including ‘being clothed in a manner that would cause discomfort or offense to other passengers.’”

NEWS FLASH

Women Fighting For Their Voice In New Egypt | Women comprise only 2 percent of Egypt’s parliament — down from 12 percent when quotas bolstered their position under the dictator Hosni Mubarak. No women participated in the constitutional council organized by transitional military rulers. And none appear on upcoming presidential ballots. After protesting to bring down the old government, some women fear they’re being marginalized by Egypt’s new one. “Now, the decision-makers don’t need women, and we’re back to this idea that femininity is inferior and masculinity superior,” said Hoda Badran, who reconstituted the formerly-banned Egyptian Feminist Union. Her group will bus women to polling places and distribute pamphlets encouraging women to vote for candidates that will back currently existing rights and protections for women that some Islamist candidates seek to dismantle.

Health

STUDY: Counseling And Waiting Periods Before Abortion Procedures Do Not Change Women’s Decisions

By Amanda Peterson Beadle on May 9, 2012 at 8:30 am

Just as Utah implements a new law forcing women to wait three days before having abortions, a new study finds that these mandatory waiting periods and laws requiring counseling before the procedures does not affect women’s decisions. In fact, the report published in Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health found that 87 percent of women were highly confident in their decisions before counseling ahead of an abortion procedure.

Researchers gathered data from pre-counseling needs assessment forms and clinical intake forms of roughly 5,000 women at one abortion clinic in 2008. State laws adding waiting periods and mandating information that doctors must tell their patients assume that women need time and counseling to make their decisions, but the study’s data show that these assumptions are wrong:

In nearly nine out of 10 cases, women expressed high confidence in their abortion decision before they received any counseling; these women would likely not benefit from additional mandated counseling or delay. Furthermore, one-size-fits all policies may not address the complex needs of women who experience ambivalence, have negative beliefs about abortion, feel pressured to have an abortion, have spiritual concerns about abortion or have low levels of social support.

Past research has indicated that forcing a woman to view an ultrasound before she has an abortion did not change her mind, and now this report shows that other state laws adding barriers to abortion services do not help women either.

NEWS FLASH

Egyptian Rights Official Says ‘Farewell Intercourse’ Legislation Was Never Proposed Nor Debated | Last week, ThinkProgress and other news outlets reported that Egypt’s parliament was considering a controversial law allowing a husband to have sex with his dead wife within six hours of her death. Newer reports show that this story originated from Egypt’s state-owned newspaper, Al Ahram, a newspaper with a long track record of “devoting hagiographic and occasionally utterly frabricated coverage to [former Egyptian President Hosnu Mubarak] and his regime,” reports the Christian Science Monitor’s Dan Murphy. His report adds that Mervat el-Tallawy, the head of Egypt’s National Council for Women, “issued a statement today that says she’s concerned about legislation that may harm the position of women in Egypt, but that there was never any ‘sex after death law’ under consideration, let alone one she complained about.”

NEWS FLASH

Obama Jokes About GOP’s All-Male Contraception Hearing | President Obama poked fun at the GOP’s all-male hearing on birth control at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday, joking, “Jimmy [Kimmel] got his start years ago on the Man Show. In Washington, that’s what we call a Congressional hearing on contraception.” Watch it:

Related Posts

Health

Thousands Rally At ‘We Are Women’ Protests Across The Country: ‘Enough Of The War On Women’

By Igor Volsky on Apr 30, 2012 at 9:53 am

Women across the country participated in “We Are Women” rallies on Saturday to protest state legislation limiting access to contraception and abortion. Hundreds of advocates gathered in Kansas, Colorado, Virginia, Florida, Arkansas, Idaho, and Oklahoma to demand that lawmakers abandon efforts to undermine women’s health.

“Today’s rally was part of a national movement that has had enough of the war on women,” Kansas rally organizer Kari Ann Rinker said. “Not only do we have a governor who sees fit to sign every piece of anti-choice legislation that crosses his desk, the atrocity is the failure to care for the living, breathing children and families that reside here in Kansas.” Protesters in Virginia carried signs that read “Stop the War on Virginia Women,” “Women’s Rights are Human Rights” and “Va. Gov. McDonnell. The Vaginal Probe Guy.” And demonstrators in Oklahoma — where lawmakers have approved more than 30 anti-abortion measures since the GOP gained control of the House after 2004 — rallied against the state’s personhood measure, noting, “That’s not progress. That’s not even status quo backward.”

The Guttmacher Institute estimates that so far this year, at least 45 state legislatures have introduced 944 measures related to reproductive health. At least 75 abortion restrictions passed at least one legislative chamber, and nine have been enacted into law.

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