Mr. Boehner (or the intern reading this),
I’d like to express my extreme embarrassment and disgust at a comment that I read, attributed to you, on the USA Today website today (http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2012/02/boehner-obama-birth-control-mandate-will-not-stand/1). The quote reads: “This attack by the federal government on religious
freedom in our country must not stand and will not stand,” in regards to the birth control mandate currently being discussed.
freedom in our country must not stand and will not stand,” in regards to the birth control mandate currently being discussed.
As a woman and an American, I am incredibly upset that you have deemed your moral values to be superior to anyone else and have decided that the appropriate place to express them is through revoking fair access to birth control. I’ve marked this email as “Civil Rights” because I think in this expression you are clearly impeding on mine. I don’t quite comprehend why your “religious freedom” has any right to impede on my ability to procreate or not. I am not a religious person, and by assuming that everyone in America shares your values you are taking a huge leap and ignoring at least 16% of the population which identifies as “Unaffiliated” not to mention anyone who does affiliate but believes a woman should have a right to birth control (http://religions.pewforum.org/reports). I thought the point of the state was to be separate from religion, or at least that’s what Thomas Jefferson was going for.
You have no right to shove your backward, misogynistic values down my throat or any other American woman’s. I realize that it is now 2012, and the Women’s Movement was a good 40-50 years back and your memory must be blurry. My mother and her peers did not spend their energy
fighting for rights with the anticipation that the Republican party would have a serious Sisyphus moment and completely forget any work that had been done. With your party trying to remove funding from Planned Parenthood, and now this, I am continually shocked and appalled at the
total lack of regard for women’s civil rights.
fighting for rights with the anticipation that the Republican party would have a serious Sisyphus moment and completely forget any work that had been done. With your party trying to remove funding from Planned Parenthood, and now this, I am continually shocked and appalled at the
total lack of regard for women’s civil rights.
I am currently abroad, and every time a story featuring your name and one of these insane ideas pops up, I am terrified that my friends will see it and think I identify with your backward politics. You’re making an embarrassment out of America, Mr. Boehner.
