News From the Republican Party - What's the Implication to Reproductive Health Issues?

Sunday August 31, 2008

So now, the even bigger news on the political front is Senator John McCain’s gimmicky selection of first-term Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his Vice Presidential running mate. To any of you out there who care AT ALL about reproductive health issues such as access to birth control, abortion, research for newer and more effective contraception, and available sex education, then you should be paying close attention to this election. People all over the United States are now thinking that selecting a female running mate is a condescending act by Senator McCain implying that women will be more interested in electing a woman based only on biology rather than policy. As per former Republican Congressman and host of MSNBC's Morning Joe, Joe Scarborough exclaims, "If John McCain's campaign thinks he can get Hillary Clinton voters by choosing Palin it is condescending and insulting to women and it is a terrible political faux pas." Come on – are we that fickle?

Scott Swenson, of RH Reality Check argues that the Republican party is hoping ”to attract women who don't know [Palin], and perhaps even some who don't yet believe that women's reproductive health is genuinely threatened by policies reducing access to contraception currently proposed by the Bush Administration, and by the promise to overturn Roe v. Wade that McCain has underscored with Palin's selection.”

Swenson further writes, “If there was any doubt about the stakes in this election for Americans interested in preserving the value of choice, and a Supreme Court that respects the differences of belief and faith and resists the push from the far-right to prohibit safe, legal abortion by overturning Roe v. Wade, there should be none now.”

Proof? In an Alaska Journal (3/16/08) article, Palin she sent an e-mail to the Alaska Right to Life board when she was running for lieutenant governor in 2002; the letter stated that she was as “pro-life as any candidate can be.” Palin is also on the record stating that she is opposed to abortion (even in the case of rape or incest) and opposed gay marriages.

If elected, the Rebuplican ticket will ensure that a woman's right to make her own reproductive health decisions will be in jeopardy. Their policies will basically end legal abortion and will do nothing to allow for comprehensive sex education and the prevention of unintended pregnancies. Is this the America we want to live in?

_{McCain/Palin Photo Courtesy of Joe Raedle/Getty Images}