Hear My Drumbeat

Photo credit: El grito- Scream by Dani_vr, on Flickr

Nancy Pelosi said recently that “We have a big fight on our hands, in terms of respect for women...We have to create a drumbeat across America.”

I agree. And as her constituent I am angry that she is not doing more.

I have not always considered myself a moderate, but my eyes were opened in college. In college I learned that Republicans’ points of view are valid, even if I disagree with them, which I usually do. I learned that political discourse should not be shied away from but embraced. That talking about politics, getting heated over politics, is invigorating, fascinating and by all means a very important discussion for people in this country to have. And on top of that I learned that those who cannot argue about politics and still be friends are childish and petty. Agreeing to disagree is not only for saints, humans are quite capable of this too. Almost all of the ones I choose to associate myself with are, so it can’t be that hard for everyone else.

But now I understand more than ever that people do have a compromise breaking point, an issue on which you have to draw the line because the other side makes no sense and compromising seems, frankly, offensive. I draw my line at women’s health rights. And what I see happening in this country is indeed a war on women, as Pelosi stated. Women’s health rights are being targeted and attacked. I am not just talking about abortion. I understand that is a complicated issue. I am talking about things such as access to cervical cancer screenings and birth control for the uninsured and low-income women in our country, of which there are too many.

As I watch this situation unfold I am unnerved and angry. I see it spreading like wildfire. From one state to the next. Using abortion as the front-of-the-house issue, while behind almost closed doors our other health rights are being dismantled. And the very thing that the women of history fought so hard for comes close to crashing down. That thing is control. Without control over our reproduction we cannot plan, and when we are not able to plan we lose everything. If we cannot plan our own pregnancies, it becomes incredibly hard to attend universities like we are now so lucky to be able to do. It becomes almost impossible to work our way up to President and CEO like we are now able to do. In essence, without the ability to control our family planning, we can no longer climb the social ladder that we have worked so hard to climb and we fall all the way down once again. We lose our rights, our independence and our dignity. 

We cannot let this happen.

We should have the right to be able to control our own reproduction and to be able to protect ourselves from life-threatening health problems. Of course we should. And right now we more or less do. But these rights are being chipped away at. Making blanket statements about the need to defund Planned Parenthood, drop birth control from health insurance and illegalize abortions nationwide is ridiculous. Because we do these things at an epic cost, which so many in government seem not to understand. The cost is that of our historic struggle, our current status and our future health, happiness and even our lives.

Pelosi should be doing more. No one I talked to knew that she had called for a national movement. Why? Because she made her statement during a Feminist Majority Foundation gathering rather than on the national news or The Daily Show. I want to scream! Where are you Nancy Pelosi? Barbara Lee? Barbara Boxer? Dianne Feinstein? Where in the hell are you?

You should be holding press conferences and writing articles and going on talk shows. Whatever you have to do to get this drumbeat started. This is about more than money and politics. This is about health and life and our right, as women, to have control over our own. Why are you, my elected liberal officials, not speaking up? You are from what could be the most liberal area of the country. You don’t risk being voted out of office if you do, so you should be leading the charge.

YOU actually have the power to spread this beat across the country.

And me writing this blog is unlikely to have the same effect. But I'm going to give it my all and see what happens.

I’m not Pelosi or Lee or Boxer or Feinstein and neither are you. But since they seem unwilling to do their job, it's up to us

Spread the word. Do what you can to add to the beat. I hope that soon we are all dancing atop the failings of the attempt to destroy women's health rights. Let's give Boehner something real to cry about.

This blog is my drumbeat. I hope the beat catches on.