Shrub and Women

Shrub and Women
May 4, 2001

A year or so ago I read a book by Molly Ivins and Lou DuBose entitled, "The Shrub: The Short but Happy Life of George W. Bush." I laughed all the way through it No way this Texas oil man who couldn't even speak the English language would ever want to be President, or actually run, or -- perish the thought -- get elected. But last week I re-read the book and it wasn't funny at all. "The Shrub" is now President of the United States.

Ivins says, "You have to work hard to dislike the man, but from the record it appears that he doesn't know much, doesn't do much and doesn't care much about governing."

But either he has had a personality transplant, or we are being governed by committee, because in his first 100 days in office Dubya (Ivins' word) has managed to undo most of the legal gains woman have made in the past decade. The name for his policy is not compassionate conservatism, but compassion for conservatives.

On his first day in the Oval Office, which was the anniversary of the Supreme Court's landmark 1973 decision in Roe vs. Wade, Dubya re-instated the "Global Gag Rule." He confirmed his stand on the abortion issue by issuing an executive order to bar federal funding for international family planning groups that support abortion rights. "It is my conviction that taxpayer funds should not be used to pay for abortions … abortion, either here or abroad," he said in issuing the order. Current law already ensures that no U. S. taxpayers' funds pay for abortions overseas. The family planning assistance funds are just that -- help for family planning in desperately poor nations. By eliminating the funds we are denying to women around the world who have no other way to get it, access to birth control information and contraceptives. These restrictions will be detrimental to U. S. foreign policy objectives, to family planning programs in developing countries, and to women's health world wide.

Next is a sneaky one hidden in the 1,300 page appendix to Bush's new budget. In one small paragraph, the president proposed dropping mandated contraception coverage for health insurance programs for federal employees. Presently the law requires all 250 health plans serving federal employees to offer to pay for five types of birth control approved by the F. D. A.: the pill, Norplant, Depo-Provera, the intrauterine device and the diaphragm. Rep Nita Lowey (D. N. Y..), author of the 1998 proposal granting contraceptive benefits to women in federal health plans said, "There's no compassion in this decision. It's calculated to please a small but key group of supporters who helped elect George W. Bush."

The Bush administration has already begun an attack RU 486, or mifepristone. RU 486 has been used as a method of early abortion by millions of women world wide. It has been available in France since 1988 and is currently available in most of western Europe. It is also a possible treatment for ovarian cancer and a myriad of other diseases and conditions that affect women. The F. D. A.'s approval of the drug was based on extensive scientific evidence and was approved for use in our less than enlightened country in 2000. Feminist Majority President Eleanor Smeal said, "Congress should be calling for increased funds to research the drug's cancer fighting properties rather than fighting this constant battle to limit women's reproductive health care options."

Just last week the House in its infinite wisdom declared when life begins -- by law, not by religious belief. They approved a bill which would establish criminal penalties for harming a human fetus during the commission of a federal offense against a woman. Representative Carolyn B. Maloney, (D. N. Y.) said the bill's definition of a fetus is "so broad it would cover three cells. Make no mistake. This is an attack on a woman's right to choose, and we know clearly and squarely where the Bush administration stands."

The next four years are going to be hard, terribly dangerous ones for women. Roe vs. Wade is under strong attack, birth control is threatened, research for women's health is considered unimportant. "The Shrub" is President of the United States.