RNC Regrets Accidental Pro-Women Stance
Turns out the Republican National Committee’s insurance plan allows its female employees to make their own decisions about their reproductive health. But don’t worry, the RNC plans to change all that:
The Republican National Committee’s health insurance plan covers elective abortion – a procedure the party’s own platform calls “a fundamental assault on innocent human life.”
Federal Election Commission Records show the RNC purchases its insurance from Cigna. Two sales agents for the company said that the RNC’s policy covers elective abortion.
Informed of the coverage, RNC spokeswoman Gail Gitcho told POLITICO that the policy pre-dates the tenure of current RNC Chairman Michael Steele.
“The current policy has been in effect since 1991, and we are taking steps to address the issue,” Gitcho said.
…
“We were not aware of this, obviously, and this will, of course, be fixed,” said James Bopp Jr., a Republican National Committeeman from Indiana. “I think Chairman Steele will see to it that that’s the case.”
Rep. Jack Kingston, a Georgia conservative, said “they need to drop that clause” from the policy or find a new one.
“From a philosophical standpoint, it’s inconsistent,” Kingston said. “It makes me think someone isn’t scrutinizing the purchases.”
Whoops! Wouldn’t want anyone to think Republicans believe women should be in control of their own bodies!
Update: Another interpretation: IOKIYAR.
11/12/09 8:28 pm | | Permalink | Tags: abortion, RNC, women's rights
Sessions: Women Should Pay More for Healthcare Because They’re Women
Hey there, ladies! Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX), head of the National Republican Campaign Committee, has a clever idea for healthcare reform: let insurance companies charge women more for medical care.
It makes so much sense! Much like insurance companies charge smokers more to offset the cost of their decision to smoke, Sessions believes insurance companies should be allowed to charge women more for their decision to have icky vaginas under their skirts.
Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Tex.), the head of the Republicans campaign committee, caused a stir at last night’s Rules Committee meeting when he suggested that treating female-related health conditions was comparable to insurance-company imposed restrictions on smokers.
“Why should a woman pay more than a man?” asked New Jersey Democrat Frank Pallone, according to the Courthouse News Service.
“Well, we’re all different,” Sessions explained. “Why should a smoker pay more?” he said before interrupted.
That Pete Sessions, with his revoltingutionary ideas! After all, everybody knows that lady-plumbing is just so damn confusing, so if you’re going to burden doctors by choosing to have it, you ought to pay more for the privilege. And ladies, if you don’t want to be treated like second-class citizens, follow Pete Sessions’ lead and get a penis!
I can only imagine the kind of Republicans Congressman Sessions is recruiting to run for office in 2010.
11/8/09 9:24 pm | | Permalink | Tags: healthcare, Pete Sessions, women's rights
GOPers Won’t Support Healthcare Reform Unless It Bans Abortion
No one could have predicted:
Hatch and his Republican colleagues on the Senate Finance Committee are pushing legislation that would require insurers operating within the new Exchange to to deny coverage for abortion services. From Raising Women’s Voices:
The Senate Finance Committee has been writing a health care reform bill and struggling to create legislation that will have bipartisan support. Chairman Max Baucus (pictured left) considered several compromises to win Republican support, so they can claim it is bipartisan legislation. One of these potential compromises comes in the form of an abortion exclusion, which would prevent abortion services from being covered by some or all insurance plans in the Health Insurance Exchange. We fear that members of the Senate Finance Committee are considering such a compromise.
Nineteen House members have also sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) stating that they will not vote for health care reform legislation “unless it explicitly excludes abortion funding from the scope of any government-defined or subsidized health insurance plan.” “Furthermore, we want to ensure that the Health Benefits Advisory Committee cannot recommend abortion services be included under covered benefits or as part of a benefits package,” the members wrote.
Now the question becomes whether the Democrats will allow women’s health to be sacrificed on the sacred alter of bipartisanship. Especially now that they have 60 votes in the Senate, there is no excuse.
7/6/09 7:53 pm | | Permalink | Tags: abortion, healthcare, Orrin Hatch, women's rights
South Carolina Priest Refusing Communion for Obama Voters
Why does this church get a tax exemption?
COLUMBIA, S.C. – A South Carolina Roman Catholic priest has told his parishioners that they should refrain from receiving Holy Communion if they voted for Barack Obama because the Democratic president-elect supports abortion, and supporting him “constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil.”
The Rev. Jay Scott Newman said in a letter distributed Sunday to parishioners at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Greenville that they are putting their souls at risk if they take Holy Communion before doing penance for their vote.
“Our nation has chosen for its chief executive the most radical pro-abortion politician ever to serve in the United States Senate or to run for president,” Newman wrote, referring to Obama by his full name, including his middle name of Hussein.
“Voting for a pro-abortion politician when a plausible pro-life alternative exists constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil, and those Catholics who do so place themselves outside of the full communion of Christ’s Church and under the judgment of divine law. Persons in this condition should not receive Holy Communion until and unless they are reconciled to God in the Sacrament of Penance, lest they eat and drink their own condemnation.”
Yet another example of religion being used to threaten and intimidate voters.
11/13/08 8:36 pm | | Permalink | Tags: 2008, Catholic Church, South Carolina, women's rights
Honoring Sarah Palin
My friend Bobby had this great idea for showing the McCain campaign what we think about Sarah Palin’s stance on women’s issues by donating to Planned Parenthood in her honor:
Hey people! I found this idea online and I think it’s fantastic. I urge all of you to do it, because maverick Sarah’s worth it:
Are you as sick to your stomach as I am at the thought of Sarah Palin as Vice President (or President!) of the United States?
Don’t you just love Sarah’s stances on women’s issues? She’s against choice (even in cases of incest and rape) and even charged women in her town for their own rape examinations. That’s just classy.
Make a $5 minimum donation to Planned Parenthood. In honor of Sarah Palin. A Planned Parenthood donation is tax deductible, while a political donation isn’t.
And here’s the good part: when you make a donation to PP for her, they’ll send her a card telling her that the donation has been made in her honor!
Here’s the link to the Planned Parenthood website. http://www.plannedparenthood.org/
[Click here to go to the "honorary donation" page.]
You’ll need to fill in the address to let PP know where to send the ‘in Sarah Palin’s honor’ card. Use the address for the McCain campaign headquarters:
McCain for President/Sarah Palin
1235 S. Clark Street
1st Floor
Arlington, VA 22202
Plus, Planned Parenthood is a really great organization that does a lot more than abortions (they do STD testing & prevention, give out contraceptives, prenatal care, counseling, etc) , so the donation is definitely going towards a worthy cause.
9/24/08 8:22 am | | Permalink | Tags: 2008, Planned Parenthood, Sarah Palin, women's rights
Government is a Man’s Job
Earlier this month, Congresswoman Kirsten Gillibrand announced that she was pregnant. No scandal here–the Congresswoman and her husband decided to have a child–until one constituent (probably a strong supporter of family values) wrote a letter to the editor (scroll down the page) arguing that this pregnancy was just one more example of why women can’t serve in the U.S. Congress.
Naturally, this letter prompted some responses from the sane part of the world. Feministing’s Jessica Valenti responded by sarcastically asking if male politicians should similarly “reimburse their daily salaries when they have to go to get prostate exams or prescriptions for their Viagra.” FundieWatch has a sentence-by-sentence breakdown of the letter, and Jesse Wendel from GroupNewsBlog responded with a letter of his own.
It’s one thing when there’s just one self-described “male chauvinist” spouting off crap to the editor of his local newspaper. But what about when the crap is being spewed by a major presidential candidate?
Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson on Wednesday teased Democratic candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton, saying “there is no woman on the horizon that ought to be president next year.”
…
Thompson continued to refer to the next president as a man who should represent conservative principles and values, and should be examined “by what he believes and by where he’s been and what he’s done.”
Thompson claims he’s not opposed to a female president since “I’ve got a daughter that’s going to be president some day,” but I have a hard time believing him. The entire purpose of his speech is to single out Clinton as a woman and, therefore, unqualified for the presidency. Moreover, he’s trying to win the hearts and minds of fundamentalist Christians who believe that a woman’s place is, according to the Bible, in the kitchen. He strongly believes that a woman can be president, except she will be unqualified because she’s a woman. Or maybe he’s saying that women just aren’t ready to be president yet. Maybe women still have to do something (grow a penis?) before Thompson will consider them ready for the high office of President of the United States.
So my question for Mr. Thompson is: when will it be a good time for a woman to be president?
12/27/07 10:16 am | | Permalink | Tags: 2008, Fred Thompson, Hillary Clinton, Kirsten Gillibrand, women's rights
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