It seems the Bush administration has developed an exit strategy — unfortunately the target is right here on our home soil.  The still-in-office Bush administration is trying to kill two birds with one stone, and those birds are named Health Care and Reproductive Rights.

It is proposing a complicatedly worded (the main clause has a triple negative) rule.  It would demand that any organization or institution that receives federal aid from the Department of Health and Human Services will not be eligible for aid unless it signs a written certification saying that it will not refuse to hire providers, doctors or nurses that refuse to provide abortion and even many forms of contraception.  

This means that hospitals would have to consider hiring people who will deny the full range of choices available to women or they will be denied federal aid. Furthermore, state and local governments will not be allowed to deny grants to hospitals and clinics if they refuse to provide abortion and many forms of oral contraception.

To use their kind of language, this isn’t not bad for women.

It never ceases to amaze me that those without the gift of reproduction, like President Bush, are endlessly trying to regulate those who can.  This is the key reason why electing women matters – women legislators are historically champions for the issues that concern women most.  In fact, nationally statistics show that the majority of women favor some degree of choice over their reproductive rights. Roe v. Wade is the cornerstone that makes that possible. 

 

Experienced legislative stonecutters know full well that once voters allow the small chipping away at that foundation, it won’t be long before the whole thing is a pile of rubble. You don’t need a magnifying glass to see this is just another veiled attempt to weaken laws protecting our reproductive rights.  Consequently, equal representation for women is not born of the desire to merely level the playing field, it is essential to protecting the rights of the feminine sensibility.

 

We at the CALIFORNIA LIST understand that women legislators are the backbone for feminine liberties.  This is why the decline of elected women here in California is so disheartening.  Women in the California legislature peaked during the 1996 to 2000 electoral cycle with a total of 46 women in both the Senate and Assembly.  Today there are only 28 Democratic women and come November we stand to lose another 2 or 3 women due to term limits.

 

We must reverse this slow decline, so that women can have a stronger voice in our legislative process. 

 

Bettina Duval is the Founder of CALIFORNIA LIST.  Visit their official site or join them on Facebook  and MySpace.