Female Voters League | FVL is for those who support female issues and female candidates

Arizona Governor Brewer stops Planned Parenthood funding

Governor Brewer signs bill while missing the bigger picture

Governor Brewer is back in the spotlight once again. She has signed a bill to prevent funding to Planned Parenthood and by signing that bill she has single handedly attempted to prevent health services to low income women, men and teens. The truth of the matter is that Planned Parenthood receives minimal government funding and actually receives the bulk of their funding through other private organizations.

What is so bizarre and completely wrong is that the state of Arizona already has laws in effect that prevent state funding for any abortion except for in the case where an abortion saves the mother’s life. Therefore it stands to reason that this new bill has no other purpose than to cut off health services to the uninsured or underinsured citizens of Arizona, all in the name of prolife.

Make no mistake about it, this follows the outright lie that “If you want an abortion, you go to Planned Parenthood, and that’s well over 90 percent of what Planned Parenthood does.", which had been stated by Jon Kyl last month on April 8. In actuality and according to statistics abortion is only 3 percent of what Planned Parenthood performs. The bulk of Planned Parenthood funding is used for contraception and the testing and treatment of STD’s.

Let’s stop and take a look at the facts, less there be even more confusion and nonfactual lies. Planned Parenthood services performed over the course of the year are broken down as follows.

STD testing and treatment – 38 percent

Contraception – 33.5 percent

Cancer Screening – 14.5 percent

Other Woman health Services – 10.4 percent

Other Services – .06 percent

Abortion – 3 percent

It is clear that Planned Parenthood performs valuable services for individuals that include preventative medicine. They are not the monsters that government officials and pro-lifers make them out to be. They do more for the health and welfare of low income than our government does lately, and for this they are constantly under attack.

Texas woman discovers mold on Kotex tampon

A mere four months after Kotex had to recall tampons contaminated with bacterium

Are all tampons created equally? Had I been asked this question a year ago I would have said other than comfort level, they are mostly created equally. After my latest finding I have no choice other than to question the quality of tampons. The quality of a tampon is vital considering where it goes; after all do we really know the long term effects of contamination in such an important part of our body?

Danielle Parr from Saginaw Texas recently discovered mold on a tampon that she took out of a brand new box. It’s fortunate that she even saw it considering that the actual tampon had a dark purple plastic applicator. How many women push the tampon out of the applicator prior to use? Most of us do not.

I could easily look at this as a strange and bizarre one-time incident, though it isn’t a one-time incident. On November 9 of 2011 the same manufacturer, Kotex had to recall their 18 and 36 count batches of Kotex with the corresponding SKU numbers 15063 and 15068. The FDA posted a recall citing contamination of the bacterium Enterobacter sakazakii.

I’m fortunate in that I don’t use the Kotex brand so I didn’t have any health concerns during the first recall and I’m not likely to come across moldy tampons this time around either. It does lead me to question what exactly is going on at the Kotex plant. The only possibility that makes since is that they are either purchasing material from a poor quality company or their in-house quality assurance is failing. Considering that Kotex isn’t exactly a generic brand and has the same cost as other major tampon brands they may want to step up their game before they completely destroy their reputation. Let’s not forget the threat to the health of women that is coming out of this trusted household name, for a company that specializes in feminine products. I for one would have expected more.

The Fight against Planned Parenthood Continues

Now Potentially at the Federal Level

Mitt Romney has been saying everything he will do or won’t do along with numerous plans to change this and that. Not surprising, after all isn’t that what presidential hopefuls always do. They travel from state to state deciding or trying to decide what the people want and what promise will pull in the most votes.

Romney is currently in Missouri and spent some time discussing his strategy to cut federal expense, which led to him cutting federal funding to Planned Parenthood. You can’t help but to wonder two things, the first, is this just one more abortion fight and the second, is he by chance preparing for Texas? It could be either or even both, after all this entire election season has turned into who can say what first and to be honest it’s becoming a little embarrassing.

The ridiculousness about Romney’s recent attack on Planned Parenthood is that in the name of cutting funding he’ll be cutting a whole .01% from the federal budget. Furthermore this insane attack on Planned Parenthood in the name of “Pro-Life or Die” people is not only annoying, it’s also a little retarded. Planned Parenthood performs a very small percentage of abortions and just as a matter of fact, many Planned Parenthoods actually don’t perform them at all, though they will provide a referral.

Planned Parenthood performs needed service for low income individuals, both men and women. These services can range from pap smears, breast exams, infertility testing, STD testing and testicular and prostate cancer screenings just to name a few. You can read through any Planned Parenthood’s list of service and immediately realize how they just happen to provide care just like any doctor’s office, yet they don’t require half of a person’s paycheck.

Low Income Women are under attack by Political Anti-Abortion Agendas

Are you getting as sick of this as I am?

Would someone just tell me what it is about abortion that brings out extreme measures. Every time it seems like people are beginning to relax, if not partially accept abortion someone comes along and reminds us all that abortion is at the center of irrational thought, injustice and inappropriate behavior. In all honesty, I’m getting a little tired of the people bullying others into what they want, which is to save life.

According to Reuters, Texas will be cutting health benefits in their newest fight to prevent abortion. How are they doing this? By attacking the low income that uses Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood receives state funding for care provided to low income adult women, because Planned Parenthood performs the occasional abortion Texas will be cutting their funding. Never mind that the bulk of their business comes from birth control, routine exams and other required female needs, they have been known to do abortions and therefore Texas sees them as a threat and is prepared to take any means necessary.

The women who go to Planned Parenthood are women who can’t afford insurance, yet make above the Medicare limit and if these women can’t afford regular insurance then they certainly can’t afford to pay for their exams out of pocket. This will result in women being unable to receive medical help. The potential impact of this can result in numerous layers of severity. Congratulations Texas you have singlehandedly managed to place the health of women at risk for sake of political extremist beliefs.

Are women singled out for degrading treatment?

In the name of safety and morality women must submit to unrealistic and degrading practices

Ten years ago my answer to that question would have been no, even 5 years ago I would’ve said no. Now I am constantly reminded of the seemingly ok degrading treatment of women. I’m not talking about women from far away countries, no I’m this is going on right here in America in the name of national security and political battles.

In the name of national security TSA agents have forced a breast cancer patient to remove her prosthetic breast, certainly embarrassing if not degrading. Women have been selected to pass through nude body scans 3 times back to back, just in case they happen to miss something. A young mother was even forced to use her breast pump to fill each empty baby bottle, of course you know how dangerous those breast pumps can be.

It doesn’t stop there, they have been known to detain people for over an hour patting them down. A women from Amarillo literally had her shirt pulled down, exposing her breast for the entire area of the airport to see, employees and passengers. As if that weren’t bad enough, TSA agents then went on to laugh and joke about it. Of course you know how easy it is to slip dangerous weapons on the underside of large breast.

If it were just airport security I could toss this all up to a bunch of undertrained idiots, our overstrained idiot politicians are just as bad if not worse. We just recently saw the crazy Virginia Abortion Bill that would have required women to undergo unnecessary medical procedures prior to an abortion, thankfully it didn’t get passed, Don’t lose hope just give them all a little time and I’m sure they’ll come up with some new form of degradation.

Virginia Governor Deems Transvaginal Ultrasound Invasive

Finally a Pro-lifer that Considers the Bigger Picture

Virginia governor Bob McDonnell though prolife has recognized that the Virginia bill that would have required any woman seeking an abortion to undergo a Transvaginal Ultrasound prior to receiving an abortion. He had commented that the procedure is invasive. His sudden change of heart followed female protest and media attention.

An abortion bill that is less invasive and only requires a standard ultrasound has been passed replacing the original. A Transvaginal Ultrasound is just as it sounds, an ultrasound that requires a rather invasive insertion by way of the vagina and is about as invasive as it comes. This is a medical procedure that is usually performed to detect medical conditions within the female reproductive system, it's also used to detect possible causes of infertility in women. In fact, the Transvaginal Ultrasound is considered to be so invasive by the medical profession that men are usually asked to go through their less invasive infertility testing before women are asked to begin infertility examinations.

Many pro-lifers that supported the original Transvaginal Ultrasound requirement were supporting the bill to promote respect for the unborn fetus. In contrast, those people who opposed the Transvaginal Ultrasound requirement of the proposed bill were motivated by the need to protect the rights of women. In fact, some reports went as far to compare the Transvaginal Ultrasound to rape.

As usual there are strong emotions on both sides of the abortion debate. On one side we have people fighting for women’s rights, on the other side people are fighting for the rights of the unborn. True to the history of this debate, there appears to be no end in sight. Regardless of what side a person falls on, women everywhere should see the failure of getting the Transvaginal Ultrasound Bill passed as a victory for all women.

What does Santorum Really Think about Women?

Women - emotional, incapable and unhappy

Rick Santorum has been the subject in many media circles by his own doing. This is mainly a result of his comments and beliefs regarding the place of women. He has been quoted making several statements that would place women back into the dark ages. We all know that he is driven by his religious beliefs, however there are many religious believers that manage to believe in God without trampling the civil liberties of women.

Rick Santorum recently was asked about his views of women in the military, specifically combat. You can hear his response in the YouTube video, however to paraphrase he is basically concerned that women emotions may interfere with military missions. I may have been mistaken in my past assumption that women were finally beyond being incapable due to emotional imbalances.

If this had been the extent of Rick Santorum’s anti feminism statements, I probably would have left Santorum alone for now. This however wasn’t the case, in his book published in 2005 you can read this great statement, “The radical feminists succeeded in undermining the traditional family and convincing women that professional accomplishments are the key to happiness.” Maybe that’s it, working has kept me from having complete happiness, of course working does give me food and clothes which probably do in fact contribute to my happiness.

Under Rick Santorum’s belief system unless time reverses and women were once again trapped in a marriage that they may or may not want, they became jobless and possibly barefoot and pregnant they’ll never truly be happy. Forget the pride that women feel for being self-sufficient, forget the excitement of accomplishments and definitely forget the respect that women receive from going out and chasing their dreams. Apparently women have simply lied to themselves, secretly women across the nation want to go back to cleaning house, cooking dinner and raising babies.

The Book of Contraception

I don't remember that one, do you?

What is wrong with some people? I know that many religious groups have long been against contraception, after all it goes against their beliefs. I just wonder why they can’t see the bigger picture.

Following a requirement, passed down by the Obama Administration for religious groups to have contraception available, many groups have been upset by the mandatory requirement going against their faith. To some degree I can understand however, considering that religious groups tend to see abortion as murder, shouldn’t there be some alternative to save a women from having a child that she either doesn’t want or can’t afford financially or emotionally.

I understand the entire procreation stance, I’m just saying the backlash of that stance is costly. There are women who already have too many children often with a husband that works too many hours, leaving the physically and emotionally exhausted mother alone, with little to know support system. A recipe for disaster.

A prime example of this is the case of Andrea Yates, a young Texan mother of 5. She had drowned each of her 5 children one by one on the morning of June 20, 2001. She suffered from a severe case of post-partum depression, she was alone, exhausted and surrounded by more children than she could possibly take care of. Psychiatric evaluation determined that Andrea in her own way believed that she thought her children would grow up to be sinners and that she was saving their souls. A combination of exhaustion, depression, minimal support and misguided religious beliefs cost the lives of five children.

When given the choice, which is worse a condom, a pill, an abortion or death of a child?

Blog for Choice 2012

The reason choice is so important

Today is blog for choice day so I’m blogging. I was going to go into the whole freakomomics connection between abortion and crime rates, however I thought instead I would just speak freely. I thought I would discuss the point of having a choice and what it means to me.

Let me first point out that at this point in my life I actually wouldn’t choose to have an abortion, however not having an abortion is my choice. If I didn’t have a choice one way or the other I would feel controlled. That is why I don’t understand how any one person or group can tell someone else what to do, especially when it comes to their own body.

I imagine that people make choices as the need arrives. If I happened to be in a position to where an abortion would make sense such as being too young or even too old, Being part of a tragic incident or just knowing that I wasn’t able to take on that responsibility then my choice may very well be to choose to have an abortion. Having a choice is vital in life.

Think of all the children that grew up in an unwanted family back when abortions were illegal. Can you imagine the impact on the child as well as the parents? I know that I was planned and loved, in contrast my husband was born into a family that had one parent trying to have children and the other dreading pregnancy. Can you guess what the difference between us is? Our entire outlook and interaction with life and people are opposite. I automatically trust, where he remains weary. He questions his relationship with people, whereas I take them for granted. This is the reason that the right to choose is so important, it goes beyond the fact of ending life. It’s the very fiber of life and can create a positive influence or can become destructive and intertwine throughout many lives.

In Memory of Roe vs. Wade

How one court ruling changed history...

In honor of the 39^th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade and as a prelude to my planned blog for choice post tomorrow I thought I would revisit the Roe vs. Wade case and explore how it impacted America. Roe was a single woman living in the state of Texas who had to sue the Dallas District Attorney after being prohibited from aborting her unplanned pregnancy. As History has shown, the court ruling was in favor of Roe and since that ruling there have been several historical changes.

Back alley Abortions, once common have been severely slowed if not stopped all together. Unfortunately, though I’m unable to recall any cases I wouldn’t be surprised if scared women didn’t still resort to them still today, not as a result of prohibition laws, simply a result of social surroundings. Regardless being able to severely limit back alley abortions have saved the lives of countless women by removing the need to take extreme measures.

Another rather strange impact of the Roe vs. Wade ruling is the odd whirlwind effect it had on the individual level. Near 40 years later normal law abiding citizens are still taking part it illegal actions. There are the occasions of abortion clinic bombings, abortion doctor shooting and on a lesser degree out right vandalism.

It amazes me that a women’s right to choose can bring out so much hatred and violence. It also surprises me that antiabortionist are unable to see the bigger picture. It’s too bad that they can’t step back away from the loss of life and view a glimpse of the life of the unwanted child.

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