We hate to break it to you, but despite repeated demonstrations /marches/whatnots, the Republicans still haven’t figured out that women aren’t decoration. Since the beginning of Trump’s campaign female tokenism has been the go-to practice for public meetings. Quite a few women from the Donald Trump-camp make headlines frequently (hello Ivanka Trump, Kellyanne Conway) but strangely the oft-held meetings on women’s health that the GOP likes to hold are always women-free. So while the Ivanka’s clothing line and Kellyanne’s alternative speeches remain under the spotlight, in the background GOP men are quietly trying to pass several bills that seek to take away women’s right over their own bodies. Clever, right?
So who shows up to Republican meetings discussing women? A lot of old (usually white) men who sit around a round table and discuss how women get to live under their ‘regime’. Republicans are loudly, and proudly, pro-life – a strange call taken on behalf of the human actually carrying another human. For those unaware of the exact cause behind the furore – here’s the gist.
The specific term used to defend pro-life, is personhood, meaning an embryo is treated as a person with rights. Personhood campaigners seek to make abortions, contraception and even IVF illegal. What this means ( in case the gravity of this bill hasn’t hit you yet) is that even an accidental miscarriage could be deemed homicide.
In this photo tweeted out by Vice President Mike Pence, a bunch of men (white, again) are inside the White House discussing how to cut maternity care from compulsory health insurance benefits. To sum it up, you cannot abort, use prevention, or undergo IVF to conceive because it has a very low success rate AND once you do give birth, you do not get maternity care benefits. Reeks of common sense and logic, doesn’t it?
Twitter, obviously, is deeply unhappy:
Here’s the picture of the leaders negotiating away birth control, maternity care & abortion. Notice anything? #ProtectOurCare
(h/t @Emmya2) pic.twitter.com/X1dYUSa7nO
— Planned Parenthood (@PPact) March 23, 2017
Completely representative group of Americans discuss removing maternity care from health plans. pic.twitter.com/aH4DUVPWTb
— Bill McKibben (@billmckibben) March 23, 2017
Happening now at the White House: a room full of men are plotting to take away maternity care #TrumpCare pic.twitter.com/SVzmqIyjQc
— Energy Commerce Dems (@EnergyCommerce) March 23, 2017
Not one woman in the room where it happens as Pence & House GOP discuss letting insurers drop maternity care from Trump health plan coverage pic.twitter.com/3rmoBz7ljI
— Steven Greenhouse (@greenhousenyt) March 23, 2017
This is quite a picture. These are the people who are going to take away maternity care. https://t.co/licoNwT9mH
— Christopher Hayes (@chrislhayes) March 23, 2017
So just how many dicks in a room does it take to strip Birth Control, Maternity Care, Prenatal Care and Newborn Care from #ACA? pic.twitter.com/GdKtc2dFhU
— Randy Prine (@randyprine) March 23, 2017
