You know what's going on in Texas right now. The controlling GOP politicians have done their best to manipulate the political process in ways that aren't all legal, to make sure that a bill that will risk women's health in Texas, is passed into law. They want to make sure that there will be no mammograms, pap smears, HIV testing, prenatal care, exams and contraception, for poor folks without insurance, in all of west Texas and other places. But we shouldn't be too surprised, because this is the state government that decided to throw hundreds of thousands of Texans under the bus just so the governor could thumb his nose at President Obama and say, 'neener, neener' - only I think he pronounced that with a 'g' in there somewhere.
They'll say it's because they care about women, but I don't see how closing the only place where Grandma can get a mammogram without driving five hours one way improves her health. What I do know is that our governor's sister lobbies for a bunch of for-profit clinics that may well look to provide expensive healthcare in places that lose their Planned Parenthood clinics, maybe in the same building that Planned Parenthood is forced to leave. This is the same governor who declared that every girl over 13 had to get the Gardisil vaccine against HPV, but I have heard rumors that one of his buddies owned the Gardisil company. That's how Texas women get their health care decided on, folks. It's not about health care, it's about money. And it's an ugly fight.
This isn't about abortion, either. No one is in favor of abortion. Not one person in an orange shirt at the protests over the past week is in favor abortion. Have I said that enough? It's about health care.
I want my children and grandchildren to grow up in a world where there are no rapes and no incest. I want every pregnancy to be wanted, safe, and healthy and I don't want any mother-to-be to find out that her fetus could kill her, necessitating a medical termination. We don't do enough medical research on women's health to make pregnancy safe in this country. Worldwide, we rank pretty darned low down in maternal health. If our legislators really cared about women's health, they'd pass a law or two to help women stay healthy. And we don't do enough to teach our kids how to behave, either. We teach little boys not to hit. Why don't we teach big boys not to rape?
Speaking of rape, the Texas representative who sponsored this bill didn't write it. That was clear when she didn't know the difference between a rape kit and a D&C. Now, if I was a classroom teacher and a bunch of my students turned in the same legislation, I'd call plagiarism. There's a lot of it going around. The bill in Texas is almost identical in part to a bill in Ohio, one in North Carolina, and one in Kansas. They're written by some bunch called ALEC. More about them later. I read up on this.
I read enough about this to get pretty darned angry. It's a long drive, but I packed my walker and a sandwich, hitched a ride with a nice young lady and two other passengers, and we drove to Austin. I was in the Senate chamber last week from 10:45 AM just before Senator Davis got started, until I was ordered out by one of the officers who flooded into the room during our impromptu citizen filibuster. I'm 61, and watching Wendy Davis and her supporters in the Senate gave me new hope for Texas. Now I am watching women organize and validate each other, plan and empower each other. It feels good. We're bringing the problem into focus.
The way to reduce abortions is to reduce unwanted pregnancies. Isn't that obvious? Closing clinics that provide health care and contraceptives will not reduce the number of pregnancies. To reduce the number of abortions, we must fund health clinics for regular checkups, mammograms, contraception, and as a last resort, legal termination.
The Texas legislature is trying to make us all believe that by restricting access, they will make abortions go away. That's ridiculous -- if we close hospitals, do people stop getting sick? They want abortions to go away so their far right owners will keep giving them money.
We need better answers to the problems we all share. We should start with some common sense. Sense used to be common, but then I'm old and I remember history because I was *there* for it. Now, I'm saddened and angered that the recent blitz (and it is a coordinated blitz, be sure of that) of anti-woman legislation has nothing to do with common sense. It avoids the obvious. I'm insulted that these politicians think so little of my intelligence. I don't think much of theirs, either, but I didn't run for office and get myself bought by corporations trying to hide behind social problems. They did.
The Republicans voted against health care for women, again. They had a choice, and they chose not to care about Texans. This is the lesson from the first special session. They don't care. We do.
Find a group, carpool to Austin, make a donation so someone else can go. Clicking 'like' is not the same as taking action. Take action. Take charge. Take Texas!
No comments:
Post a Comment