Kenneth Roy A few good reasons for not voting…

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In South Dakota,

it could soon be legal

to murder a doctor

Alan Fisher

The splendidly named Reince Prebus is the chairman of the Republican National Committee. That means he is one of the most important people working for the election of Mitt Romney as president.

     During a recent TV interview he was asked if the Republican Party was waging a war on women, a common thread of attack by Democrats. He rejected the idea, although perhaps could have selected a more elegant metaphor to make his point, alleging that if the mainstream media and his political opponents suggested that his party had a problem with caterpillars, then he would be accused of waging a war on caterpillars.
     Mitt Romney, the presumptive nominee, has accused President Obama of making life more difficult for woman with his economic policies. Such heated exchanges reflect the importance of women as a key election demographic. They make up 52% of the US electorate and at the moment they favour Obama over Romney by 20% in some polls. Take that to 6 November and that could be the election result.
     There’s a lot of spin around this issue but a look at the facts produces a fairly revealing pattern. In the past two years in state legislatures across the country there have been almost 2,000 anti-choice provisions introduced, mainly by Republican politicians. Elizabeth Nash of the Guttmacher Institute, which has been tracking this, told me: ‘When we’re seeing so many attacks around abortion which is really women’s health care, we are also seeing attacks against family planning services, and how else would you describe it than a war on women?’.
     Republicans have attempted to redefine rape and supported legislation which would let a woman die rather than perform a required abortion. In Virginia, Republicans introduced a bill which would require women in the early stages of pregnancy to undergo an invasive, critics say humiliating, transvaginal ultrasound before being cleared for an abortion. Following public pressure, a modified version of the bill was passed.

‘It’s not Mitt Romney’s fault for the legislation that is being introduced by Republicans around the country, but he is responsible for his own failure to condemn these things if he actually disagrees with them.’

     In Wisconsin, the Republican governor – a Romney supporter – repealed a law which would make it easier for victims of wage discrimination to take their case to court. In the US, despite equal pay laws, women, on average, earned 77 cent for every dollar earned by a man.
     In South Dakota, Republicans proposed a bill that could make it legal to murder a doctor who provides abortion care. The law would expand the definition of ‘justifiable homicide’ to include killings that are intended to prevent harm to a fetus. Republicans suggest that is an exaggerated reading of the legislation.
     One of the doyens of the Republican movement, radio host Rush Limbaugh, called a college student a ‘slut’ and a ‘prostitute’ for giving evidence to Congress which supported the idea of healthcare providers giving contraception coverage. Not one senior Republican, perhaps worried about losing the support of such a powerful media figure, criticised him openly.
     On the campaign trail Mitt Romney has been surrounding himself with women – including his wife, Anne. It is a calculated campaign move. Michelle Goldberg who works for Time magazine says he has to be more outspoken if he wants to connect with female voters, not just use them as window dressing. ‘It’s not Mitt Romney’s fault for the legislation that is being introduced by Republicans around the country, but he is responsible for his own failure to condemn these things if he actually disagrees with them.’
     It would be wrong to suggest women vote as a block, but Democrats traditionally get more of the female vote. Mitt Romney already needs to win over Conservatives in his own party. If he can’t convince women that his party is on their side, then the route to the White House becomes much more difficult.

Alan Fisher is an Al Jazeera correspondent