Keep Them Out of Your Daughters' and Granddaughters Vaginas

Like you, I have followed the latest gambits by the Republican Party to keep women barefoot and pregnant, while destroying the anti-establishment clause of the first amendment to the Constitution.  The linguistics of their efforts stink of GOP strategic linguist Frank Luntz.  The failure of the Democrats to respond with equal ferocity stinks of the now common Democratic strategy of minimal resistance and cowardice.

What's going on here?  By shifting to contraception as the target issue, the Republicans have managed to move the focus from their discredited attacks on Planned Parenthood, which has included the discrediting of the Susan G Komen Foundation, to an area of completely settled law, and couch their attacks as defense of the freedom of religion clause of the first amendment.

Let me suggest an alternative interpretation.  If all non-religious entities that offer insurance are required to provide contraception to their employees, giving religious entities a pass is, in effect, establishing religion in the nation in direct contravention of the first amendment.  President Obama finessed the controversy, but not the underlying problem, with his modification of the original policy.

Now the Republicans are trying expand that finessed policy to terminate all mandated coverage by pushing to permit any entity to gain exemption if it claims moral opposition to any aspect of mandated coverage.  This is part of the war on health care reform.

At the same time, GOP controlled states are instituting more mandates.  Virginia is the current leader in this fight.  The requirement of subjecting those considering abortions to undergo trans-vaginal probes is a vicious invasion not only of women's' rights, but of human rights.  Whatever happened to fighting against the invasion of freedom Republicans claim is their goal?

How far do the Republicans intend to push?  The overt attacks on the American Care Act mandates is the first mandate they want overruled.  Do they want the Medicare mandate removed?  How about the Social Security mandate?  Social Security and Medicare were opposed by Republicans when they were first enacted, and termination of those programs has been a priority for decades.  Why not overturn the mandate to pay income taxes while they're at it?

It looks to me like while the GOP whines about protecting the Constitution, it really want to return to the ineffective Articles of Confederation that the Constitution replaced.

It is not too surprising that the battleground on which the Republicans have chosen to wage their war on human rights is the female reproductive system, after all, women are "the weaker sex."  Our job is to defend the rights of our wives, daughters and granddaughters and keep right wing extremism out of their vaginas.