I woke up this morning to learn that finally the military has lifted the ban on women serving in combat. What a great day in history for women's rights and the lessening of rigid gender-stereotyped roles.
That was my reality until a few hours ago where I learned that Cathrynn Brown, a female GOP legislator from New Mexico, has introduced a bill where women who are raped and thus impregnated would be FORCED to keep the baby and see out the pregnancy. Any woman who was raped and attempted to get an abortion would be charged with a felony (and so would her doctor). This could mean that the woman and her doctor could serve up to three years in prison. What?!
Representative Brown claims this bill is to ensure that the perpetrators of the rape are in fact punished. She believes that the unborn fetus is actually evidence in the case against the rapist, and that aborting the fetus is tampering with crucial evidence.
As I read more about this disturbing turn of events, I did feel somewhat relieved to learn that this bill will most likely not pass due to Democrats having a majority in the New Mexico legislature.
However, it still concerns me that there are respected government officials, male and female, that could ever think this was a good idea or that this would help women. These kinds of bills are continued evidence of the war on women. And the war on families.
In one day, the country has proved both how far it has come in terms of women's rights and how much more work we have to do. For people who believe women's rights issues is just a thing of the past, think again. The minute we become complacent as a society in terms of women's issues, the sooner people like Representative Cathrynn Brown will be in charge of our decisions and our bodies. Keep on fighting, America!
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