In a scene right out of a dystopian novel about a future evangelical theocracy in the former United States of America, a Wisconsin Republican claimed America needs “forced birth” policies for the continued success of economic prosperity. As absurd as it sounds, this latest ploy should convince naysayers that evangelical Republicans are pulling out all the stops to to force women to be human incubators by theocratic fiat.
The evangelicals and Republicans waging war on women’s reproductive rights and freedom of self determination have employed every conceivable argument to avoid admitting controlling women’s lives is a religious crusade. So it was not that unexpected that Wisconsin Republicans were restricting women’s right to choose on a familiar “excuse” to control women. But it was a new low for one evangelical Republican state representative, a reprobate Republican named Scott Allen, to defend another attack on women’s rights by saying abortions are bad because “labor forces are tied to population declines.”
Allen was arguing in favor of Assembly Bill 128 that prohibits health insurance coverage for abortions. Wisconsin already prohibits public employee’s healthcare plans from covering abortion services unless it is medically necessary, but it wasn’t harsh enough for evangelical Republicans. In fact, it is safe to say nothing is harsh enough for evangelical Republicans in their war to control women.
Wisconsin Democrats attempted to add two amendments to the anti-women bill, but Republicans said no, the personhood movement won’t allow it. One of the amendments should be shocking it had to be proposed, but to prevent America from becoming Gilead, Democrats sought to ensure that the evangelical measure would not prohibit women from using contraception. Republicans rejected that idea out of hand. As per the Catholic Humanae Vitae, contraceptives are considered “artificial” birth control and thus are on the legislative chopping block.
The second amendment attempted to eliminate the requirement that a sexual assault or incest victim report the crime to law enforcement to be legally eligible for an abortion; evangelical Republicans rejected that measure also. When they say they want to control women’s right to self-determination about their reproductive lives, they mean there are no barriers and no exceptions to their religious tyranny. That’s why Scott Allen’s contention that women choosing when to give birth is bad for the economy was a canard and a dangerous one at that.
In his speech Allen said:
“Often in public debates people are afraid to say it, but let me just say it: Abortion is wrong. Although it may be legal we should in no way shape or form should we provide public funding for abortion.
Labor force shortages are tied to population declines. And labor force shortages are a limiting factor in economic growth. And limited economic growth poses a problem when government tries to pay for public services and infrastructure. In spite of this ... the Democrats continue their effort to support the abortion industry.”
There are a few things in Allen’s statement that have to be addressed. First, according to Governor Scott Walker, the Wisconsin “total labor force reached an all-time high in September.” The evangelical state does not have to enact “forced birth” laws because there is a labor shortage.
Second, this notion that “we provide public funding for abortion” is an oft-cited fallacy and one that is never addressed or corrected. Any employer, public or private, that offers healthcare insurance is doing so as “part of the employee compensation” package for work performed. What an employee does with that “compensation” is none of the employer’s, or religious Republicans’ business, but it has been an easy means of the righteous theocrats to control women. The Republican men passing these laws would react violently if women employers prohibited male workers from using part of their “employee compensation package” to buy “boner pills.”
Third, Allen’s smart-ass remarks about “economic growth” and government revenue falling short to pay for “public services and infrastructure” is pure bullshit, and Allen knows it. He is a Republican and like all other Republicans he doesn’t believe government should pay for anything; except his salary and his employee benefit package.
Allen’s claim to fame is being a champion to reform (eliminate) prevailing wage laws and crusading to enact “right to work for less” laws; he is an ardent anti-organized labor cretin who supports slave wages that are the bane of “economic growth and prosperity.” He also opposes fair taxation. And coupled with a labor force earning poverty wages that Allen supports, tax cuts for business and the wealthy are what “pose a problem when government tries to pay for public services infrastructure,” not access to abortion.
Now, it is likely that Allen doesn’t even believe his own argument opposing women’s choice, but these absurd reasons to control women never stop with one idiotic evangelical Republican. It should be expected that other Republicans will embrace the “economic” reasons for restricting women’s autonomy on their reproductive choices. Contraception in health plans was once considered a non-controversial part of basic healthcare until religious Republicans discovered “the fetus” as an emotional campaign tactic. Even Hobby Lobby’s owners “lavished” contraception coverage on their employee’s health plans prior to the Affordable Care Act. Now denying, and banning, contraception is a tried and true means of controlling women. It is no coincidence that Wisconsin’s religious Republicans rejected language prohibiting the state from banning women from using contraception and it means it is in the offing.
It is still a mystery why women are not taking to the streets in massive numbers to protest their certain loss of autonomy as American citizens since the religious right took power after last year’s election. Even a bigger mystery, really, is why the men that claim to love their mothers, wives, girlfriends and daughters are not storming the White House, Congress and Republican statehouses to confront this group of white religious Republican men attacking their loved ones; especially to impose evangelical tyranny on over half the population. It is incomprehensible that in the “land of the free and the home of the brave,” a religious minority is imposing its tyrannical edicts on America’s women without any opposition.
It is true that women’s reproductive rights advocates are fighting the good fight, but they never cite the real reason women are under a sustained assault. One of the primary reasons the religious right, and many in the clergy, are escalating their attacks on women is because they know that they can work behind the scenes and prevail because no-one is identifying religious tyranny as the source of the assaults. It may be Republicans introducing and enacting anti-women’s rights laws, but they are simply surrogates for the Vatican and personhood religious movement. Now they are employing a new tactic and fear-mongering that if the religious right is prohibited from forcing women into perpetual child birth, the nation’s economy will suffer. It is an obscene and absurd assertion, but the stupid quotient in the population means a significant number of idiots will believe it is an immutable truth.