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SPIKE THEIR GUNS!
It won't be too long now before the abortion debates begin. That will signal the start of elections 2002. This time, we hope, our spokespeople will get out in front and present our point of view instead of always playing catch-up, or being caught out without a good answer to the anti's charges.
We urge everyone to check out the web pages of the right wing zealots and have rebuttal ready. This time, instead of seeing our representatives responding to their attacks, we'd like them to spike our opposition's guns before they even start. Read their pages, listen to them speak and know your enemy. Is it fun? NO. But it is informative. http://www.christiangallery.com/
Recently,
we ran across Bay Buchanan on C-Span telling a group of young people about
the horrors of abortion. Most of what she had to say was the boilerplate
that we've heard many times before. Repetition is effective, however, and
it has moved many voters to vote against reproductive rights.
Oozing sympathy for women, Buchanan has laid aside bombastic Bay and now presents us with benevolent Bay. "When abortion is made illegal," she asserted quietly, "it will not mean that women will be prosecuted and jailed. We will go after the abortionists who are evil and uncaring of women. They are in it only for the money."
Surely we could name several martyrs who cared enough for women that they daily risked their lives. Dr. Barnett Slepian, murdered, comes to mind. And what of those who still are laying their life on the line? Well the simple fact is that it is too dangerous for them to be named and thanked for their bravery.
Bay then went on to claim that "feminists" were responsible for the fact that there was no proof that abortion caused a whole laundry list of illnesses. She said these illnesses and their cause had not been proven but that was the fault of "feminists." She bragged that she challenged those "Fs" every time she met them in debate, to have scientific studies made of abortion's affect on women.
She asserted that Fs refused to do this. WOW! This was astounding. There is no way that any group of people can demand that scientists study whatever it requests. Just as surely, there is no way any group could stop this research if a grant application was made and funded.
It appears that she and the anti-woman richus ones are capitalizing on the fact that abortion, like any medical procedure, is a private matter. Women are not going to come forward to say that they did NOT suffer any medical problems because of it. Why should they? However, it's fairly easy for the anti's to locate women looking for notoriety or sympathy, who are willing to claim that all their bad fortune happened because they had an abortion.
Besides the right of privacy there is the very real threat that women who declared that they had abortions would be hounded and attacked by the ever present lunatic fringe of those who would deny women the right to make reproductive decisions themselves.
Senator "Jeesum Jim Jeffords,"
by leaving the Republican Party, has opened a gaping hole of opportunity
for us, and we should be prepared to walk through it. We must be armed
with facts and ready to bring the fight to those who would abolish Roe
v. Wade. Now every judicial appointment Cheney/Bush makes will NOT
be a slam-dunk.So here's the news bulletin from our parts [Texas]:
Living with the aftermath of [Gov.] Bush is a bad hangover. Some people
were smart enough to see it coming. When Ronald Reagan was pushing tax
cuts 20 years ago, a Republican voted against him, predicting the cuts
would lead to massive deficits. The guy's name was Jim Jeffords.
On
an encouraging note, even though anything goes now on radio or TV, Imus-In-The-Morning
listeners quickly rebelled recently. They responded vehemently when
sports announcer, Sid, bemoaned the "appearance^" of the Williams
sisters (tennis) and called them "animals." Sid
explained that it had nothing to do with their race. He was referring to
the fact that they had muscles. "They might as well be boys,"
he claimed.
-- from "Cleaning Up Shrub's Mess"
by Molly Ivins http://web.star-telegram.com/
Continuing his choices of administrative appointments to the right of Attila-the-Hun, Cheney/Bush has tapped every woman's nightmare, Wade Horn, for a post in HEW.
2001-024
Copyright
2001 Renee T. Louise and Ruth M. Sprague, Ph.D. These articles may be republished
for noncommercial use only, provided that they are copied intact, and that
this copyright notice is attached. Address all queries to: twanda@gendergappers.org.
G e n d e r G a p p e r s T M
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