Below the Belt: A Biweekly Column by NOW President Kim Gandy

June 18, 2004

Vote for your lives!

What with all of these attacks on women's rights, it seems like every few weeks another newspaper column asks, "Is feminism dead?" The answer, of course, is a resounding: "No." We're in the ring and swinging! Women across the nation, in the courts, and on the field, are prepared to defend their bodies and their rights.

Two courageous women

Two points for Federal District Court Judge Phyllis J. Hamilton for stating clearly that George W. Bush's Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 is unconstitutional. In Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) v. Ashcroft, one of three cases challenging the ban, Judge Hamilton decided against Ashcroft, thus protecting doctors connected with Planned Parenthood from prosecution under the abortion ban, at least for now. Not only has Judge Hamilton affirmed women's access to abortion, but on March 5, she denied the Department of Justice access to confidential medical records concerning women and their decisions.

Thank you, Judge Hamilton, and three cheers for the feminism that brought her to the bench. And thanks also to Governor Jennifer Granholm for using the veto in an effort to preserve women's rights in Michigan. Last October, Granholm vetoed the "Legal Birth Definition Act," a particularly nasty and misogynist bit of "fetal rights" legislation that, true to form, would not help fetuses or babies but would certainly hurt women. According to the Detroit Free Press, it "attempts to require legal protection for a living fetus once any part of its body is outside the pregnant woman's body. When that occurs, the legislation requires that efforts be made to preserve the fetal life unless doing so threatens the life [not health!] of the woman."

Unfortunately, Granholm's heroic efforts were not enough; abortion opponents collected over 400,000 signatures to enable the legislature to review the bill without the Governor's consent. The Michigan Senate on Wednesday, June 9, approved the bill by a vote of 23-12. The House passed the bill the same afternoon with a vote of 74-28. The bill will go into effect in late March 2005, if not blocked in the courts.

Aiming Low

Along the same vein of the government giving us fewer rather than more choices, the "Child Custody Protection Act," a.k.a. the Teen Endangerment Act, is being discussed in the Senate. The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee recently heard testimony on the bill which would punish, by imprisonment or a fine of up to $100,000, non-guardian adults who take minors across state borders to get abortions in order to circumvent parental consent laws. This bill will not only punish grandmothers, aunts, older sisters, and other compassionate adults, but it will also punish the young women who cannot turn to abusive parents for permission to end a pregnancy, especially one that may have been a result of incest.

Politics are all around us—to the extent that soon even churches may not be a sanctuary from politics. Republicans just tried to pass legislation that, in defiance of the Constitutional separation of church and state, would allow politics into churches and places of worship. Currently, religious leaders are allowed to take political stands, but only when acting individually, not at church functions and not using church funds. With this new bill, H.R. 2357 (the Houses of Worship Political Speech Protection Act), religious leaders and their congregations would have been allowed to endorse candidates and participate in other partisan activities three times before risking their tax-exempt status. Fortunately this is one punch we blocked. The House Ways and Means Committee saw this bill for what it was: a scam to allow George W. Bush to campaign directly through congregations. What's really creepy about this is that the Bush campaign, just days before this bill was introduced, wrote an email to Pennsylvania churches trying to feel out 1,600 "friendly congregations" that would support his re-election campaign. (His actions are so scary—thank goodness we never elected him in the first place!)

Of course the Bush administration has not stopped here. To further justify their newfound role as spiritual leaders, making decisions on life and death, they are working to enlist the help of the Catholic Church. In a group huddle of ignorance and injustice, Bush is reported to have urged the Vatican to put pressure on American bishops to be more vocal in their support of Bush's positions on social issues like abortion and gay marriage, according to the New York Times. The Pope's secretary of state did not respond to their interview request, but CNN reports that Scott McClellan, White House spokesperson, said it was clear that Bush and the Pope shared the same priorities. Sure they do: inequality, inequality, inequality. Judging from his intrusive policies, if Bush had his way, the government would have complete control over all aspects of our lives, birth and death, leaving me to wonder—where is the separation between church and state when the government has decided to play God?

Fire with Fire

Yet through all these attacks, feminists are fighting back in every state and every city across this country. Take California, which you may not think of as part of the Bible Belt. And yet just last week, women had to once again stand up for their right to work outside the home. In an April Bible study for legislatures conducted in Sacramento, Rev. Ralph Drollinger criticized women lawmakers who were mothers of young children, calling these women "sinners" for neglecting their children. (Which decade are we in, Ralph? Of which century?)

The feminist response was swift and sure (who says feminists have no sense of humor?). On the Senate floor the next day, legislators of both sexes showed up wearing aprons with scarlet "M's" (for Mother). Sen. Debra Bowen (D-Marina del Rey), went barefoot and brought a toaster to her desk. "Today, I'll be serving up a billion dollars in savings for PG&E customers, identity theft legislation, and power plant citing rules," she said, "along with bacon and eggs, getting my shopping list together and preparing to can." (Now there's a Supermom for you!)

The tired charge that feminism is dead comes up at least once every year, but we're not going anywhere. This is a fight for our lives, and through bigots, barriers and bad bills, feminists are here to stay!