Tammy Wynette asks women to “Stand by your man.” I’m calling on men to “Stand by their women.”
You began life in a woman’s womb where you spent the better part of your first year. Many of you have sisters and most married a woman. You and your children inherited half your DNA from a woman.
The first law President Obama signed was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 protecting our women from wage discrimination. With Republican taking back the House in 2010, this law would have no chance today as only three House Republicans voted for it.
I recall a day in high school when our principle sent a dozen females home for wearing slacks. I thought it a bit strange my female classmates had to constantly guard against exposing their panties when sitting or climbing the stairs wearing shirts and dresses.
But today’s GOP/TEA party has gone even further, insisting on medically unnecessary vaginal probes for women who elect to terminate pregnancies due to rape, genetically defective fetuses with preexisting conditions, or pregnancies that might injure or kill them. They even propose laws restricting women’s access to birth control.
Cuts in Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and child and infant programs disproportionately impact women. Women pay higher health insurance rates than men, an injustice the Affordable Care Act will correct.
Polls show women will be voting to protect their rights. The same polls show we men have yet to see the light. Please, “Stand by your women.”