GOP hellbent on turning back clock on abortion

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I’m not being flippant, but the fight for women’s reproductive rights reminds me of that arcade game, Whac-A-Mole.

Hear me out.

In the game, pesky moles pop their heads out of a set of holes. You’re never sure where they’re going to show up, but you do know you don’t want to see them. Just as a player takes a mallet to one’s head sending him back underground, another mole pops up.

I thought about that game while watching the backlash unfold over Donald Trump’s comment that women should be punished if they have an illegal abortion.

OPINION

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There should have been time for the pro-choice camp to feel good about revving up so much immediate opposition to Trump’s statements that the normally unapologetic presidential candidate was forced within hours to recant.

But there was no time to rest before the spotlight had to be set on yet another male Republican politician popping up to play big daddy and tell women what they can — and, more ominously, cannot — do when it comes to their reproductive rights.

This time it was our next door neighbors’ governor, Mike Pence, under fire after he signed into law new anti-abortion restrictions. Those measures are so demeaning and heartless that even Republican Indiana legislators who’ve supported previous anti-abortion laws are in opposition, according to news reports.

The governor’s move inspired the Periods for Pence campaign on Facebook, encouraging women to contact his office and report what’s going on with their menstrual cycles since Pence seems so obsessed with them. On Monday the campaign was encouraging its supporters to call not once, but twice, daily.

See? Just like Whac-A-Mole, only in this version real women and their life choices are at stake. It’s too early to tell what impact the campaign — which encourages women to “be the voice your lady bits always wanted you to be!”— will have.

Companies back away from states passing legislation that discriminates against the LGBT community. It would be great if they’d do the same to states that want to send women back to the Dark Ages.

I’ve been pro-choice even before I could even put a name to it. I saw “The Cardinal” at a young age and one scene in the drama about a priest working his way up the church’s hierarchy sealed my opinion.

The priest’s unmarried sister is pregnant and something’s going wrong. He — not the sister — must choose between her life and that of the unborn child, and well, you can guess what happened. (I can still hear his sister screaming.) Right then it was clear to me females should not leave their fate in the hands of someone else, especially a promotion-aspiring male.

And foolish me, I thought once Roe v. Wade was decided, that would be that. But instead, especially in the last few years, Republican male politicians have been hellbent on turning back the clock when it comes to women’s reproductive rights. Don’t let these politicians fool you; they’re not thinking of any unborn child. These measures are just a means of holding women back. These politicians aren’t supporting sex education or contraception giveaways that could prevent pregnancies. They’re not providing government social programs to help women and children in need. Instead, we see punitive measures and cutbacks in services across the country.

Just like in Whac-A-Mole, someone’s gotta keep knocking back these attempts to take away women’s reproductive rights. It’s gotta be tiring with such a constant onslaught, but it has to be done.

Email: sueontiveros.cst@gmail.com

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