Do Republicans want government out of our lives?

September 13, 2012 12:10 am

This past legislative session, House Republicans held a hearing on birth control. You would expect that women would be well represented on such a panel. If so, you'd be wrong. There were no women on the panel!

Todd Akin, R-Missouri, candidate for the U.S. Senate, recently stated that women were unlikely to get pregnant from a "legitimate" rape. Akin adheres to the tenets of Dr. John Wilke, who claims that the trauma that occurs with "assault rape" lessens the possibility of pregnancy because the woman's body will "shut down." It will not surprise you that other prominent physicians like Dr. David Grimes, UNC professor of obstetrics and gynecology, refute this, calling it "absurd" [The Seattle Times, Aug. 22].

In the U.S. Senate this past year, two Republican senators introduced the Blunt-Rubio Amendment. This bill would limit access to contraceptive services for women if any employer or insurance carrier had a "religious or moral objection." And so employers could impose their beliefs on their employees and deny an employee's coverage not just for contraception, but for mental health services, cancer screening, etc. This amendment was defeated by a very narrow 51-to-48 vote.

Republicans claim they want to keep government out of people's lives, but they don't seem to mind putting government in the way of women and their families making their own very personal decisions. The above information leads me to see that if I care about a woman's reproductive rights, I cannot vote for Republicans.

I will vote for Barrack Obama, who supports women in making their own reproductive choices.

Rebecca Reed

Falmouth