War on Women: AZ Legislature Fuels the Fire

In 2010 and 2011, the Arizona Legislature led the way for crazy extremist laws against immigrants and brown people in general.

Changing their focus slightly, the Arizona Legislature decided to victimize women during the 2012 session. Not to be left out of the nationwide War on Women, legislators proposed multiple bills that would limit abortion services, mandate vaginal ultrasound exams, legislate personhood, deny insurance benefits for contraception, and put them at the forefront in repressive legislation. There was such public outcry against some of the Lege’s wackier, more invasive ideas that not all of their bills have made it to the governor’s desk.

Here is a partial list of Arizona’s heavy-handed contributions to the War on Women.

The Lege passed and Governor Jan Brewer signed the “Mother’s Health and Safety Act” (HB2036) which limits abortion and requires a pre-abortion vaginal ultrasound so the woman can view the fetus before aborting it.
HB2036 also legislates the beginning of life and says that pregnancy begins before intercourse. (This should be nicknamed the Virgin Birth Bill. Check out Stephen Colbert’s take on Arizona’s “pre-life” law.)

The Lege also sent HB2625 to Brewer. That bill would allow employers to drop insurance coverage for contraception.

Most recently, the Lege moved to cut off Planned Parenthood’s access to taxpayer funds.

Not to be outdone by the states, Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign continues to drive women voters away with outrageous statements like it’s OK for women to earn less than men, and he and his wife Ann have waffled back and forth– now infamously– on working mothers.

FOX News– well known for covering multiple wars, like the War on Christmas– is still in heavy denial mode that the War on Women exists. As a result, they are digging themselves in deeper. In this clip, one FOX commentator said women are equal because they have the right to shop. In response, Young Turks Commentator Ana Kasparian says, “F*ck you” to FOX.

To voice our collective outrage with the actions of Teapublican legislatures and bone-headed GOP politicians, in general, women in Arizona and across the country will be demonstrating this coming Saturday, April 28, against the War on Women. The Arizona demonstration will be appropriately located on the lawn of the State Capitol Building, beginning at 10 a.m. Be there.