Eclipsed by the Conventions: Midnight Regulations Reduce Women To "A Uterus With Two Legs"

Bush and the conservative religious right are at it again.  In the hushed corridors of the West Wing, K-Street, and Congress, they meet in secret, writing regulations for enactment in the twilight hours of the imperial Bush presidency that would roll back the progress women have made in the 20th century and beyond.  

The proposed change at the Department of Health would redefine some kinds of contraception as abortion, even contraception before implantation. Hospitals that offered such contraception would forfeit federal aid. They would also forfeit the aid if they refused to hire health professionals who opposed abortion or birth control. This regulatory change "could also undermine state laws that require hospitals to prove emergency contraception to rape victims," according to womensenews.

Frustrated by its failure to further infringe on the rights of women reproductive freedoms during the Bush administrations reign, the Religious Right has broadened its attack.  No longer only content to overturn Roe v. Wade, Republican political operatives and religious conservatives seek the negation of Griswold v. Connecticut – the case which serves as the basis for Roe v. Wade.  Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U.S. 479 (1965), was a landmark case in which the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the Constitution protected a right to privacy. The case involved a Connecticut law that prohibited the use of contraceptives. By a vote of 7-2, the Supreme Court invalidated the law on the grounds that it violated the "right to marital privacy". Since Griswold, the Supreme Court has cited the right to privacy in several rulings, most notably in Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973). The Supreme Court ruled that a woman's choice to have an abortion was protected as a private decision between her and her doctor.  Overturning Griswold v. Connecticut would effectively render Roe v. Wade "toothless" and its legal validity would most certainly be challenged before the Robert's Supreme Court – a court certain go further to the "right" under a McCain presidency.

Women's "freedom" to choose methods of reproductive control and independent family planning are under assault.  Behind closed-door deals are underway to redefine and control women's access to contraception via insurance coverage restrictions.  Ironically, Viagra will still be covered by drug plans.  Horrifically, McCain's pro-life stance may mean the pill is murder. 

Women, we are being given our walking papers back to the Dark Ages.  If McCain plants one of these misogynistic "Neanderthals" on the Supreme Court, Roe v. Wade will most certainly perish.  Under such a ruling, it is conceivable that a woman could be legally designated as "potentially pregnant" throughout her reproductive years and subject to laws that control her behaviors with the intent of promoting fetal implantation.  A miscarriage or birth defect could lead to suspicion and/or prosecution of a mother for 'child endangerment, manslaughter, or murder.'  After all, pregnancy is the punishment a woman must pay for sex -- period.   Why else deny her access to birth control?  Why deny married women access to birth control?  A woman will be reduced legally to not much more than a uterus with legs -- a receptacle for an 'citizen embryo' that possesses more rights under the law than she does.   

Wake up.  They are sneaking these regulations under the radar and it is a serious attack on women's human rights and civil liberties – government sanctioned.  Before you know it, you will be reporting to the Office of Uterine Control for a chat.

They have launched a covert attack to take away a woman's ability to determine whether she will become a mother or not.  It is forced servitude.  Relegated to the status of a "birthing vessel" for all humanity, women will be left with few choices:  give birth, self-inflict a miscarriage, seek a back-alley abortion, self-inflict sterilization to include a surgical hysterectomy, criminal castration of husband, or suicide.

Is this the future we want for our daughters? Contact HHS and your members of Congress.