On Aug. 6, the Grand Old Party (otherwise known as the Republican Party) held its first debate in Cleveland, Ohio.
As a woman, I found the debate regarding abortion to be appalling. It comes as no surprise, however, that the field of GOP contenders is strictly anti-abortion. These candidates for the Republican Party have terrifying, absolutely outrageous stances on abortion. I realize this is a very controversial topic all over the world, primarily to us in the United States. One of the front runners, Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, stated “women should not have access to abortion even if their life is in danger.” Mike Huckabee went on, saying “fertilized eggs should have the same legal rights as a U.S citizen.”
Those two quotes are equally appalling to me and to many other people around the world. First, let me state these GOP candidates are men. 1) They know nothing about carrying a baby. 2) They like to use women’s bodies – my body as well – as a political playground for themselves to govern. As Obama once said, ask them about climate change, and they’ll say they’re not a scientist; ask them about reproductive rights, and suddenly they’re all doctors. The debate about abortion was absolute nonsense. All these people were saying was “women’s lives don’t matter when there is a fetus in her,” and the quote about eggs having legal rights as a U.S. citizen is ridiculous coming from them, when they so strongly oppose not only basic rights of feminism and race issues, but also marriage equality. There is a chance the egg could turn out to be male, white and straight. That is why they believe they should have all the same “rights” as citizens.
And then, of course, there is the issue of Planned Parenthood. Many of the GOP candidates have said PP should be de-funded because there is no reason we should be pouring half a billion dollars into safety and health for women, as stated by Jeb Bush. Well, why not? We spend countless billions of dollars on all sorts of things every day, but as soon as women get something, the GOP wants to take it away. What people don’t realize is PP abortions are not performed in most buildings and only account for 3 percent of “sales,” while the rest of the money is put into not only STD testing for men and women, but also contraceptives to prevent abortions. The people of Planned Parenthood who are responsible for selling the fetal parts for research (whether it’s for research or not, who knows) should be held accountable. America needs Planned Parenthood. And that’s my final word, as a woman and behalf of all other women needing it. We should be the only ones to govern our bodies. Not anyone else. That is why I am pro-choice. Pro-life is almost the equivalent of anti-women.
