War on women

The War on Women is a political catchphrase used in United States politics to describe Republican Party initiatives in federal and state legislatures that are seen as restricting women's rights, especially with regard to reproductive rights. The phrase is often used by feminists or liberals when attacking or criticizing conservative positions, often targeting policies that reduce or eliminate taxpayer funding for women's health organizations that perform abortions, like Planned Parenthood. The term is used to describe legislative initiatives that are argued to negatively affect: access to abortion services, how violence against women is prosecuted; how workplace discrimination against women is treated; lack of equal pay for women; and, in relation to abortion law, to limit the definition of rape to mean "forcible" rape. Other issues revolve around public funding and mandatory employer insurance coverage of such areas as contraception and sterilization.

While the term is not new and has been used in other contexts, it became common in American political discourse after the 2010 congressional elections. Use accelerated rapidly in 2012 as both liberal and conservative news outlets began to discuss the term.

The phrase and the concept has been criticized by Republicans, including the Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus, who described it as a fiction and equated it to a "war on caterpillars." Related criticisms include opposition to abortion, claims that mandatory contraception funding violates religious freedom and that laws to protect employees limit or eliminate employer's rights.

Prior use of the term

Feminist Susan Faludi's 1991 book Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women, describes the increasingly negative depictions of feminists by the mainstream media. Former Republican political consultant Tanya Melich's 1996 memoir, The Republican War Against Women: An Insider's Report from Behind the Lines, describes the incorporation of the Pro-life movement and opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment by Republicans as a divergence with feminist causes.

George W. Bush's administration met with resistance from feminists and women's rights activists throughout his Presidency. In 2004 The Feminist Press published Laura Flander's collection of essays The W Effect: Bush's War On Women.

House of Representatives

In the 2010 midterm elections, the Republican Party won the majority in the House of Representatives. On January 4, 2011, the day after they convened, Daily Kos writer Kaili Joy Gray wrote an article entitled "The Coming War on Women." In the article, she outlined many of the measures that Republicans would later push through the House of Representatives, including personhood laws, fetal pain laws, and the effort to defund Planned Parenthood.

In January 2011, the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act moved to change how rape is treated when used to determining whether abortions qualify for Medicaid funding. Under the language of the bill, cases of statutory rape would not have qualified. New York Representative Jerrold Nadler said that the legislation "represents an entirely new front in the war on women and their families." In February 2011, House Republicans proposed a budget that would cut $758 million from WIC, a federal assistance program for low-income pregnant women, breastfeeding women, and infants and children under the age of five. That month also saw House Republicans pass legislation designed to cut off funding for Planned Parenthood. Florida Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz began using the term "War on Women" in March 2011.

Representative Jackie Speier criticizes Rush Limbaugh for his comments about Sandra Fluke

On January 20, 2012, Health and Human Services' Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced a mandate requiring that all health plans provide coverage for all contraceptives approved by the FDA as part of preventive health services for women. Following complaints from Catholic bishops, an exception was created for religious institutions whereby an employee of a religious institution that does not wish to provide reproductive health care can seek it directly from the insurance company at no additional cost. Missouri Senator Roy Blunt proposed an amendment (the Blunt Amendment) that would have "allowed employers to refuse to include contraception in health care coverage if it violated their religious or moral beliefs," but it was voted down 51-48 by the U.S. Senate on March 1, 2012.

In February 2012, Republican Congressman Darrell Issa convened an all-male panel addressing contraceptive mandates for health insurers. He did not allow Sandra Fluke, a Georgetown University Law Center student, to participate in the hearing. Democratic Representatives then staged a separate panel where Fluke was allowed to speak. Later that month, American conservative talk-show host Rush Limbaugh controversially called Sandra Fluke a "slut" and "prostitute" and continued in similar fashion for the next two days. Foster Friess, the billionaire supporting the candidacy of Rick Santorum, suggested in February 2012 that women put aspirin between their knees as a form of contraception. Limbaugh echoed the sentiment, saying he would "buy all of the women at Georgetown University as much aspirin to put between their knees as they want."

Nancy Pelosi circulated a petition against the Republican war on women and asked that Republicans in the House of Representatives disavow the comments by Friess and Limbaugh, which she called "vicious and inappropriate."

State legislatures

2011 and 2012 have seen an unprecedented rise in the passage of provisions related to women's health and reproductive rights. State legislatures across the United States introduced 1100 provisions restricting women's reproductive rights in 2011. The first quarter of 2012 saw an additional 944 provisions introduced in state legislatures, half of which would restrict access to abortion. Legislation has focused on mandatory ultrasounds, narrowing the time when abortions may be performed and limiting insurance coverage of abortion.

Abortion

A Guttmacher Institute analysis found that between 2000 and 2011, the number of states hostile to abortion rights have increased markedly. The analysis found that in 2011 there was an unprecedented rise in the number of provisions passed by state legislatures restricting abortion. State legislatures enacted 135 pieces of legislation affecting women's reproductive rights.

Many states have adopted model legislation written by Americans United for Life, a pro-life advocacy group. In June 2011, Charmaine Yoest, president of Americans United, wrote an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal addressing the loss of federal funding that Indiana faced for having "declared war on women."

Mandatory ultrasounds

In 2011 and 2012, many states passed legislation requiring that women seeking abortions first undergo government-mandated ultrasounds. Some states require that women view the image of the fetus and others require that women be offered the opportunity to listen to the fetal heartbeat. Since many women's pregnancies are not far enough along to get an image via a traditional ultrasound, transvaginal ultrasounds, which involve the physician inserting a probe into the woman's vagina are required. Critics have questioned the value of having a medically unnecessary procedure, and characterized it as similar to some states' legal definition of rape. Writer Megan Carpentier underwent the procedure and indicated that it was not like being raped, saying that it was "uncomfortable to the point of being painful, emotionally triggering... and something that no government should force its citizens to undergo to make a political point."

Ultrasound of an embryo at 8 weeks

Iowa politicians proposed the "Women's Right to Know" bill in January 2012, which would require that a woman undergo an ultrasound and be asked if she would like to see an image of the fetus and listen to its heartbeat prior to receiving an abortion.

Virginia State legislators passed a bill in 2012 requiring women to have an ultrasound before having an abortion. The legislation, signed by Governor Bob McDonnell, would require that the provider of a abortion make a copy of the fetal image and include it in the file of the patient.

In Louisiana, where mothers are already required to view ultrasounds of their fetuses before receiving an abortion, lawmakers proposed a bill that would require them to listen to the embryonic/fetal heartbeat as well.

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett drew criticism when he said of his state's new mandatory ultrasound law that a woman would "just have to close your eyes."

A Kansas bill passed March 2012 requires doctors to warn women seeking abortions that they are linked to breast cancer, a claim that has been refuted by the medical community. Other legislation in Kansas has been criticized as unfair to women; in October 2011, for example, the City Council in Topeka, Kansas repealed its Domestic Violence Law, effectively decriminalizing spousal abuse.

Gestational limits on abortion

Georgia legislators passed HB 954, a "fetal pain bill" criminalizing abortions performed after the 20th week of pregnancy. The bill, which does not contain exemptions for rape or incest, has been referred to as the "women as livestock bill" by opponents. Representative Terry England made a comparison between women seeking abortions for stillborn fetuses to delivering calves and pigs on a farm. In April 2012, Arizona passed legislation banning abortions occurring 20 weeks after a woman's last menstrual period. Similar legislation has been passed in Nebraska, Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Idaho and Oklahoma.

States such as Ohio have proposed so-called "heartbeat bills" that would prohibit abortions when the heartbeat of the fetus can be detected. Fetal heartbeats can be detected as early as six weeks into a pregnancy.

Redefining the beginning of human personhood

Voters in Mississippi rejected Initiative 26 in 2011, a measure that would have declared that human life begins at fertilization. Critics of the initiative indicated that the law would have made abortion illegal in cases where the mother’s life is in danger.

In February 2011, South Dakota state legislators considered a bill that would change that state's definition of justifiable homicide to allow the killing of abortion providers. Similar legislation was considered in Iowa.

In Arizona, legislators passed a bill protecting doctors from wrongful birth suits. Under the legislation, doctors who don't inform mothers about prenatal problems would not be liable for malpractice. The Kansas House passed a similar bill in March 2012, shielding doctors from malpractice suits if they don't tell mothers their children have birth defects.

Workplace discrimination

Women’s earnings as a percentage of men’s earnings, by state and Puerto Rico, 2007. Data from the Income, Earnings, and Poverty Data From the 2007 American Community Survey.

A bill passed by the Arizona House would allow employers to ask women whether they are using birth control to avoid becoming pregnant.

In April 2012, Governor Scott Walker signed into law an act that repealed Wisconsin's Equal Pay Enforcement Act, which allowed workplace discrimination victims redress in state courts. The law was passed to address the large gap between the wages of men and women in Wisconsin. Republican State Senator Glenn Grothman said of the repeal, "You could argue that money is more important for men. I think a guy in their first job, maybe because they expect to be a breadwinner someday, may be a little more money-conscious." The repeal was criticized for reinforcing the gender pay gap, a recurrent theme in the struggle for women's rights. Law student Sandra Fluke wrote in opposition to the measure, highlighting legislation that supports equal pay for equal work, such as the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009.

Defunding Planned Parenthood

The legislative policy initiative described as a War on Women has included a drive to eliminate state and federal funding for Planned Parenthood. Texas, Indiana and Kansas have passed legislation in an effort to defund the organization. Arizona, Ohio and New Hampshire are considering similar legislation. In Texas, lawmakers reduced funds for family planning from $111M to $37M. The future of the Women's Health Program in Texas, which receives 90% of its funding from the federal government, is unclear. The Indiana legislature passed a bill restricting Medicaid funds for Planned Parenthood. Indiana Representative Bob Morris later referred to the Girl Scouts of the USA as a tactical arm of Planned Parenthood. In Kansas, where abortion doctor George Tiller was murdered in a church, the state's Department of Health and Environment maintains a 'Woman’s Right to Know' website with "4-D ultrasound video/audio" of fetuses. A 2011 Kansas statute cut funding to Planned Parenthood.

In April 2012, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker signed into law a bill requiring doctors who prescribe the morning-after pill to have three meetings with patients or be subject to felony charges. Planned Parenthood suspended non-surgical abortions in the state.

On January 31, 2012, breast cancer organization Susan G. Komen for the Cure stopped funding Planned Parenthood, citing a congressional investigation by Rep. Cliff Stearns and a newly created internal rule about not funding organizations under any federal, state or local investigation. Four days later, Komen's Board of Directors reversed the decision and announced that it would amend the policy to "make clear that disqualifying investigations must be criminal and conclusive in nature and not political". Several top-level staff members resigned from Komen during the controversy.

Violence against women

The renewal of the Violence Against Women Act, which provides for community violence prevention programs and battered women's shelters, was fiercely opposed by conservative Republicans in 2012. The Act was originally passed in 1994 and has been reauthorized by Congress twice. Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell, who has previously voted against renewal of the Act, said the bill was a distraction from a small business bill.

In October 2011, the City Council in Topeka, Kansas repealed its Domestic Violence Law.

Public opinion

In a May 2012 Kaiser Family Foundation poll it was found that only a third of women believed there was a wide-scale effort to limit reproductive health, seen as disbelief in the War on Women. 76 percent of women believed there were efforts to "limit women's reproductive health choices and services" with 31 percent believing it to be wide-scale and 45 percent believing that certain groups are taking such actions. In the same poll, 42 percent of women have said they have taken some action in response to what they heard about regarding reproductive health issues.

Reaction

Response from Republicans

Critics of the term have said that the War on Women does not exist and have suggested that it is a ploy to influence women voters. Reince Priebus, the Chairman of the RNC, referred to the War as a "fiction", saying "If the Democrats said we had a war on caterpillars and every mainstream media outlet talked about the fact that Republicans have a war on caterpillars, then we'd have problems with caterpillars."

Republican Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers called the war a myth, saying "It’s an effort to drive a political wedge in an election year." Referring to the 2010 elections and Nancy Pelosi, she said that "It could be argued that the women actually unelected the first woman Speaker of the House."

Senator John McCain, when asked by journalist David Gregory if there was a Republican War on Women, said "I think that there is a perception out there because of how this whole contraception issue played out — ah, we need to get off of that issue, in my view."

Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski countered the criticism from her fellow party members, challenging them to "go home and talk to your wife and your daughters" if they did not think there was a war on women, saying "It makes no sense to make this attack on women."

Response from women's organizations

On April 28, 2012, marches were held in 55 cities protesting the War on Women, organized by a group which formed in response to the War on Women, UniteWomen.org. Although response was good, with an estimated crowd of between 1,500 and 2,000 attendees for the Denver march, for example, media coverage was sparse, leading to complaints and accusations of "media bias."

See also

• Birth control movement in the United States
• Contraceptive mandate
• Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009
• Women's health

Further reading

• Rich, Frank (March 25, 2012). "Stag Party: The GOP's woman problem is that it has a serious problem with women". New York Magazine.