Now that the voters have spoken, what’s going to happen next?
It is often said that a budget is a statement of priorities. It shows what matters to people. Women should matter. Access to safe medical care should matter.
By all accounts, the women’s rights advocates who fought to reauthorize VAWA never made EC a priority.
Rand Paul, you’ve just won a CPAC straw poll! What will you do next? “I’m banning abortion and some forms of birth control!”
One primary. Two Democrats. One pro-choice. One anti-choice. Here we go again.
When I stumbled into the world of politics and policy after law school I was surprised to see the dearth of women. In particular, there was lack of African American and multiracial women in elected office or even working on the issues that affected women and minorities the most.
When I came to the labor movement it wasn’t just because I had an opportunity to try something different. The appeal was in working with a bottom-up union that allowed me the connectivity to the kind of people I knew best.
The Senate votes 78-22 to reauthorize VAWA.
We put President Obama into office. Now my generation must hold Obama accountable to his commitments, including urging him to submit a budget to Congress without unfair restrictions on coverage for abortion care. Obama Administration, take note that women will be watching to see if you live up to your commitments to women’s health care.
With the greatest number of women ever in Congress, there is still mathematical reason to debate 2012 as a “Year of the Woman.” The elections have come and gone and men still hold 80 out of 100 (80 percent) seats in the Senate, and 355 of 433 (82 percent) filled seats in the House.
