Yes, step up and out of those binders where you and I have been hiding unnoticed, apparently!
This year is extra important that women get out and vote. Please vote – but on the way to the poll find another woman to bring along.
Why?
1. Women need access to contraception and abortions. Check out, in the graph below, the increase (since 2000) in single motherhood since abortion has been made very difficult. Of course, dangerous ‘back-alley’ abortions occur, and a very few legal facilities make it possible for a safe abortion. If contraceptives are not made available FOR ANYONE who wants them, then more single motherhood will be seen. The Romney/Ryan plans hurt women and interfere with their private choice. This would be top-down government at its most prejudicial worst. The following chart shows the increase in single mothers for 2000-2011.
As stated in the Population Reference Bureau’s brief, U.S. Children in Single Mother Families, single mothers cost us more in healthcare and welfare.
Seven in 10 children living with a single mother are poor or low income, compared to less than a third (32 percent) of children living in other types of families.
…children in lower-income single-mother families at high risk of negative outcomes compared to their counterparts in higher-income families.
more than one-fourth (27 percent) of single mothers do not have health insurance. Among those who are insured, two-fifths are covered by public insurance programs. In contrast, over 90 percent of insured mothers in married-couple families have private health insurance coverage.
If you don’t feel persuaded, let’s look at the impact of other Republican policies toward women. Here’s information from Nicholas Kristof’s column, September 1, 2012, in the NY Times:
* If an American woman in uniform is raped and becomes pregnant, Congress bars Tricare military insurance from paying for an abortion.
* If an American woman in the Peace Corps becomes pregnant, Congress bars coverage of an abortion — and there is no explicit exception even if she is raped or her life is in danger.
* When teenagers in places like Darfur, Congo or Somalia survive gang rapes, aid organizations cannot use American funds to provide an abortion.
* A record number of states have curbed abortions in the last two years. According to the Guttmacher Institute, which follows reproductive health, 55 percent of American women of reproductive age now live in one of the 26 states deemed “hostile to abortion rights.”
* The Republican campaign platform denounces contraceptive education in schools. Instead, it advises kids to abstain from sex until marriage.
2. Women outlive men by quite a bit: they need reliable and adequate medicare, Medicaid and social security. Women should not be allowed to die from poverty and inadequate medical care.
Check out 8 Social Security Myths Exposed where you can learn that the earliest Social Security MAY run out is 2033.
“but it doesn’t necessarily mean Social Security will be gone in 20 years. It means system revenues won’t be capable of paying 100% of promised benefits under the law. The Social Security Administration estimates that benefits could be reduced by 22% at that point and may continue to decline — if Congress doesn’t intervene, which is unlikely.”
Read on to the other 7 myths, some of which may help you with planning
Also read MEDICARE’S ROLE FOR WOMEN by the Kaiser Family Foundation. It is a PDF document. It says in part:
SOCIAL SECURITY: Older women have lower average Social Security and pension benefits than men, primarily because they had lower-paying jobs than men during their working years and because many worked part-time or left the workforce for periods of time to raise families or care for aging family members.
MEDICAL ISSUES: Women are more likely than men to report having three or more chronic conditions. [Remember, men tend to die earlier, so don't get as involved in chronic illnesses.]
MEDICARE: Medicare plays a key role in health and retirement security for older women, along with Medicaid for those with low incomes, but gaps in benefits and high cost sharing lead many Medicare beneficiaries, particularly women, to spend a rising share of their incomes on their medical care. Medicare’s role for elderly women underscores the importance of sustaining the program and finding ways to address the health needs and related financial challenges facing women as the population ages.
3. The Romney/Ryan Tax plan doesn’t add up. See Bloomberg News writer Josh Barro’s article, The Final Word on Mitt Romney’s Tax Plan uses the Tax Policy Center and other sources to show that the numbers DO NOT ADD UP. This is one of many articles, including those in “conservative” media, that have the same criticism of Romney’s ideas.
We need responsible and fair government. We need a government and president that is not biased toward women. Women need to be treated treat them as full citizens. There should be no discrimination toward women.
Please go and vote on Election Day (November 6th). Support women’s rights.
