Were you shocked by the title of today’s posting? I certainly hope you were. Unfortunately too many Americans are not sufficiently shocked to vote the Republicans out of office at the state level where most of the carnage is taking place. This is not the first time I have contended that the Republicans are hazardous to our collective health; perhaps Americans will do something about it this November.
Monday morning started with my usual perusal of newspapers. Paul Krugman’s New York Times op-ed reinforced my “the Republicans are killing us” point with a new perspective on the problem. I have (justifiably) been attacking them on their refusal to expand Medicaid simply because they do not want Obamacare to be successful. (There is more than just a bit of racism in that.) Dr. Krugman pointed out the effectiveness of their war on Planned Parenthood which has been particularly effective at the state level.
The op-ed starts out, “Something terrible has happened to pregnant women in Texas, their mortality rate has doubled in recent years, and is now comparable to rates in places like Russia and Ukraine.” He goes on to point out that the surge in the mortality rate coincides with the Republicans in Austin defunding Planned Parenthood. Although Krugman’s article doesn’t cover it, I have to wonder if the effect of closing abortion clinics isn’t also contributing to the rise in the mortality rate.
For wealthy women of childbearing age these restrictions have little effect. They can pay for private medical services and if necessary travel out of state to obtain them. Poorer women, (and this includes many working class women), simply cannot afford those options. In fact restrictive and medically unnecessary waiting periods make services unaffordable for even more women. 40 plus years later the radical right finally seems to have decided it cannot overturn Roe v Wade which effectively made abortion legal in America. Now their strategy has become making it unobtainable.
Texas is far from the only state where Republicans in the state capital are enacting laws that are literally responsible for the death of American women. This is going on in every state where the Republicans are in charge. While imperative, it is not sufficient to vote for Hillary Clinton in November. You need to vote for Democrats in the down ballot races as well. Lives are literally at stake. By the way, voting in presidential years is not enough. You need to vote in off year elections also!
Donald Trump is either insane, totally unqualified to be President or both. He is new on the scene and far from the only problem. The down ballot races and off year elections are also important.
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