Tucked away at a resort built on former plantation land in southern Virginia, the Republican Party is once again plotting a come back. And once again, they’re not addressing the flaws in their policy, but rather the message used to convey the policy to the public.
So it is that they were warned not to use the word “rape” anymore:
“Rape is a four-letter word — don’t say it,” the group was advised by a Republican pollster in another session, said one person familiar with the discussion. That was a reference to controversies about rape and abortion that were partly to blame for the GOP losing two Senate seats — in Indiana and Missouri — in November.
This is like thinking you’re going to get Hispanic voters by not mentioning immigration. Rape is sadly an issue that impacts most American women – even if confined to worrying about it and preparing to avoid it. Instead of ignoring it, women would like their representatives to fight for liberty for women by doing things like reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act that the Republicans have refused to pass.
Women want to be given the same rights as men when it comes to their medical decisions. Women believe that they are the best judge of the right decisions for their bodies and they would like to be represented by people who share that belief.
So Republicans might do well to avoid the word rape, but until they change their policies, which reflect the very beliefs they are trying to hide from the public, they are not going to win over women voters. Republicans believe that men who don’t even know the woman should be able to make medical decisions for a woman and her family. They believe that they have a right to inflict their religious beliefs onto all Americans, in spite of a Constitution that clearly says they do not.
While there are many Americans who share those religious beliefs, not many Americans take it to the extreme that Republicans do, where they deny the existence of rape and deny the existence of pregnancy from rape. And many of those Americans who do share a religious belief with Republicans still believe that each woman should have the right to make her own medical decisions, especially if it involves a pregnancy resulting from rape.
It’s worth pointing out that women also seek to reduce abortions (after all, they are the people who have them). Though they tend to prefer the avenues that actually work to reduce abortions, like making birth control accessible to poor women and providing education about reproduction. Republicans have been against these things, while also seeking to control what a woman does with her body once she is pregnant. In short, their position is not about reducing abortions because their policies do nothing but obstruct the very things statistically shown to reduce abortions. They do nothing to reduce rape or to protect women from rape, and then punish women for being raped by stripping them of the freedom to make their own medical decisions.
The word rape is not a four letter word that should not be spoken. It is a four letter word that needs to be discussed more often, in order to take steps to prohibit it. Instead, House Republicans are busy reissuing bills that they know incentivize rape because this was pointed out to them last year when they introduced the same bill. Yet, they reintroduced it again this year without addressing this flaw.
Republicans may not be saying the word rape anymore, but when some of us think of the word, we think of the danger of elected Republicans disenfranchising our liberty while emboldening rapists.
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Churchlady
Jan. 18th, 2013 at 4:48 pm
Yeah, and in Harry Potter “he who shall not be named” rose up anyway and had to be identified.
It fools NO ONE (well, no woman) when men and purse-lipped biddies pretend there is no such thing or that if there is, “it shall not be named.”
Does not keep it from happening. Does not keep us from calling it out. By name.
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Reynardine
Jan. 18th, 2013 at 5:17 pm
Purse-lipped biddies. Yep, thank you.
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Former GOP Lady
Jan. 18th, 2013 at 5:06 pm
Well said Sarah. I left the Republican party over 30 years ago when they made Anti-Abortion a plank in the Party Platform. They actively work against my and my daughters interests. I will never vote for a Republican for any office if they do not agree with my position on these issues.
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Churchlady
Jan. 18th, 2013 at 5:21 pm
I think that means you never will have to read their campaign lit. They won’t, in our lifetime, EVER start honoring other people’s morality, politics, and humanity.
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majii
Jan. 19th, 2013 at 12:32 am
The proof that republican politicians don’t value women is showing up across the nation. Mississippi legislators wrote a law that rids the state of its one remaining abortion clinic and Indiana and Texas legislators have defunded Planned Parenthood. Republicans can avoid saying certain words, but it is clear by their actions that they don’t think we’re smart enough to make our own decisions about our healthcare needs. As Ms. Jones mentioned in this article, republicans in DC have learned nothing since losing the last presidential election, because they have indeed re-introduced a personhood bill into the House. For some people to learn anything and have it stick in their minds, they have to be reminded more than once that their behavior is reprehensible. With the reintroduction of the personhood bill and the refusal to pass the Violence Against Women Act, republicans are sending America’s women a loud and clear message that they don’t value us. They may not say the word rape, but the thing to watch is when the VAWA comes to the House floor for a vote. If they vote against it, that’s all we women need to know about how they view rape.
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Anne
Jan. 19th, 2013 at 8:09 am
These are some of the most horribly tone-deaf people I have ever seen in action. They seem to think that most people, women especially, will be stupid enough to buy into their well-known and antiquated views about women if they just change the way they deliver they message. If they truly cared about reducing abortions, they would be embracing things like comprehensive sex education for all, birth control, and gynecological health in general. What it’s really about is putting us back in the place where they think we belong. It must not have occurred to them even for a moment that women can be desperate enough to put their lives at risk with self-induced or back-alley abortions. They only pretend to care about the sanctity of human life, since their policies are guaranteed to drive folks into poverty. Mississippi is Exhibit A for that kind of short-sighted stupidity with its low ratings for every index measuring the quality of life.
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sandppppr
Jan. 19th, 2013 at 12:00 pm
The repuglicans have learned when they try to define rape if will cost them votes and seats. Just look at the last election. This is just the first step in trying to “redefine” their party since they lost in the national election. Until they can shed their evangelistic base which defines their views on abortion they are going limit their appeal to the broad American people.
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Mary
Jan. 20th, 2013 at 12:53 pm
Once again the repugs living in their delusional world believe not talking about it will change how women clearly view them.
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