Remember all the anti-Taliban propaganda that was circulating about a year ago? There seemed to be one point that was hammered constantly: the Taliban's oppressive treatment of women.
It got to the point where many of the people I knew figured the best punishment for bin Laden would be to capture him, force him to undergo a sex-change operation and turn him loose back in his own country. I'm sure his followers would listen to him then.
But what about President Bush's own oppressive treatment of women? Since he has taken office, he has closed the White House Office for Women's Initiatives and Outreach (which was responsible for reviewing legislation and questioning its impact on women), left contraceptive coverage out of insurance polices for federal employees on his first budget submitted to Congress (Congress reinstated this benefit), has nominated numerous anti-choice individuals to high federal positions and has greatly increased funding for "abstinence only" education (no kiddies, condoms are made by the DEVIL!).
Since Bush has taken office, the National Cancer Institute has made "revisions" to its fact sheet on breast cancer; specifically, there was no scientific link between abortions and breast cancer, but now the data has been found "inconsistent." Nothing scares a woman like an increased chance of developing breast cancer.
Reverting back to the topic of women in Afghanistan, Bush signed legislation approved by Congress that included $2.5 million in emergency funding for programs to support women in Afghanistan but later decided that these programs didn't need emergency funding. This despite the fact that Afghan women have one of the highest levels of maternal mortality in the world.
But you can look up the full list of indictments yourself at www.plannedparenthood.org. If you want a more "unbiased" source, check www.whitehouse.gov and http://www.nci.nih.gov (site for the National Cancer Institute).
Bush has been trying to block a woman's access to birth control; he wants to increase a woman's chance of becoming pregnant. As history has taught us, one of man's best reasons for keeping women at home is to take care of numerous children. Thanks to the pill and condoms, we don't have to give birth to half a dozen screaming kids anymore! We can go out and attempt to succeed in a "man's world." Masculinity is threatened. They are scared.
Pro-choice or pro-life is a personal issue; no man has the right to press his ideas and values on millions of women, no matter what his position. The president especially should stand up for the rights of his people, not try to suppress the nation's largest population segment.
A woman should have the right to choose when she wants to reproduce and when she doesn't. This is an issue that should have been resolved 30 years ago with Roe v. Wade. But clearly there are still those out there who would keep us locked in the kitchen baking pies and making babies. Until we are free of this danger, we must remain on guard.
Write to Kelly at knhacker@bsu.edu
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