In 1965, as part of a thirteen-member panel under the Democratic administration of former President Lyndon Johnson, Jule Sugarman proved what pro-life means. Mr. Sugarman was pro-life in a unique way. It would be eight more years before abortion would be legal across the United States. Incidents of illegal and dangerous procedures, sometimes performed in a basement, kitchens, and makeshift clinics, would no longer be a threat to women who chose to take control of their lives. Jule Sugarman was not searching for doctors who would perform abortions or condemn to hell women who took that option. For wealthy women, it was not a problem, but for poor women, abortion could mean death, which is an indication of the desperation they felt. Mr. Sugarman became a soldier in the War on Poverty, and as a result, he created the Head Start Program.
The American public and advocates for the rights of women have allowed the conservatives and evangelicals to define the terms by which we discuss abortion. They have called women sluts looking for an easy way to avoid any consequences of promiscuity. Even when using birth control, women have been accused of not worrying about the health of their bodies, just their genitalia. Famously, the late radio crank Rush Limbaugh made such an accusation against a young woman named Sandra Fluke:
“What does it say about the college co-ed Susan [sic] Fluke who goes before a congressional committee and essentially says that she must be paid to have sex, what does that make her? It makes her a slut, right? It makes her a prostitute. She wants to be paid to have sex.”
Limbaugh later apologized, but the damage had been done to Ms. Fluke’s reputation. Conservatives have coopted the term Pro-Life with the obvious implication that liberals are anti-Life. Just as they made the term “liberal” a dirty word and changed the name of the Democratic Party to the Democrat Party, Liberals fought the battles for women's and children’s rights on the Republican playing fields. Republicans are not pro-life; they are pro-fetus. Invading the body of a woman who carries a fetus and then ignoring the needs of that life when the breath is blown into it is not courageous; it is performative and cruel.
The latest example of that cruelty is the refusal by 15 GOP state governments to accept an additional 40-dollar-per-month grant for hungry children when school is closed for the summer. The GOP, who beat their chest in an attempt to convince themselves that they believe in the sanctity of life, have proposed cuts in education, healthcare, and food assistance, known as TANF, mainly aimed at children. The Summer EBT program is designed to help 29 million school-aged children. Although the Republican party is living their lives in a fantasy world, there are some truths, one of which is that children get hungry year-round. The GOP is more overt in its cruelty and racism. The truth is they see any program that may benefit blacks as taking money out of their pockets. Ronald Reagan’s welfare queen scenario was confirmation from a president of prejudices through misinformation. What they forget is the black children who will benefit are matched by their white counterparts, and black people pay taxes, too.
Vote Against Guns