Wednesday, February 23, 2011

The Correlation Between Women's Rights And The Wisconsin Protests

Is there a correlation between the labor unrest in Wisconsin and a woman’s right to choose?  Absolutely!  Here is why.
Last year the Republican Party campaigned on increased jobs and decreased spending.  But when they took office the first three pieces of legislation that they proposed were anti-abortion bills.  Then they proposed a spending bill that eliminated all $317 million dollars from Title X funding and consequently Planned Parenthood.  Repealing a women's right to choose is clearly high on the Republicans' "to do" list. 
These spending cuts are intended to hurt abortion providers, specifically Planned Parenthood which, according to Ruth Marcus of the Washington Post, is not only the largest recipient of federal family planning funds it is also the largest abortion provider in the country.  Title X clinics serve more than 5 million women per year, a vast majority of them low income.   As Marcus notes, “Planned Parenthood does not only provide abortion services…  Federal law requires Planned Parenthood to separate its abortion expenses from its other expenses…abortion represents 3% of the services Planned Parenthood provides; contraception accounts for 35%; testing for sexually transmitted diseases, 34%; cancer screening and prevention another 17%.”  She further cites the Guttmacher Institute noting; “The Guttmacher Institute has estimated that Title X helps prevent nearly 2,000,000 unintended pregnancies annually, including almost 400,000 teen pregnancies.  The institute says that these pregnancies would otherwise result in 860,000 unintended births and 810,000 abortions.  Marcus finally states: “The inevitable result of eliminating Title X funding would not only be more abortions but higher bills for taxpayers footing Medicaid and welfare costs for poor children.”  Guttmacher found that every public dollar invested in family planning saves $3.74 in Medicaid expenditures for pregnant women and their babies.  All of this and the fact that abortion is legal in this country appear to be lost on Republicans.      
So what does any of this have to do with the labor unrest in Wisconsin?
Under the guise of fiscal Armageddon Wisconsin Governor, Scott Walker, is attempting to eliminate the collective bargaining rights of public employees.  The workers have already acquiesced to the governor’s financial demands.  All that is left on the table is the right to bargain collectively.  But the governor has refused to back down.  His way or the highway!
Wisconsin is not alone.  Thirteen other states governors have proposed similar legislation. There is an undisputed, organized effort on the part of the Republican Party to break the unions.
Why, because the unions are the lifeblood of the Democratic Party.  During the 2010 elections unions contributed over $200 million dollars to Democratic candidates.  That is a huge number.  No other organization came close.  Of the top ten organizations contributing to political candidates; seven contributed to Republicans and three to Democratic candidates.  All three of the groups contributing to Democrats were unions. If the Republicans can break the unions they can break the Democratic Party.

And the only thing standing between Republicans and a woman’s right to choose is the Democratic Party.  

No comments:

Post a Comment