It is not very often, if ever, that Republicans, or any of their conservative cohort, tell the truth; it just is not a part of their character. However, for some mysterious reason a few of them are abandoning their penchant for mendacity as of late. First it was House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) coming clean about the Benghazi Select Committee illegally using taxpayer money for the RNC’s 2016 presidential campaign against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Then it was the typical lying Mormon Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) being honest and confessing that he could find no wrongdoing by Planned Parenthood despite a very thorough and comprehensive investigation. Now, unbelievably, an anti-choice activist was honest in boasting that the attacks on Planned Parenthood, and women’s reproductive rights in general, have absolutely nothing to do with abortion and everything to do with controlling when women have sexual relations; something evangelicals and Catholics consider a mortal sin unless it is in servitude to a man or to produce offspring.
When Republicans and their evangelical base were desperate to restrict women’s access to any form of birth control, one of the complaints was that just the idea of a woman, married or not, having “consequence free sex” was an abomination that religious Republicans would not allow or condone. In their minds there has to be a severe, usually an 18 year and nine month, “consequence” for any woman who has sexual relations; even when their “man” demands being serviced” and the woman is ill. Now, a representative of one of the anti-choice cabals planning to harass Planned Parenthood clinics around the nation this weekend has admitted that the crusade against Planned Parenthood is a purely religious assault founded on ending the corrupt sexual ethic of promoting sex not intended for procreation.
The spokeswoman for Citizens for a Pro-Life Society explained why evangelicals, the personhood movement, anti-choice fascists, Catholic bishops, and their Republican facilitators are so intent on destroying Planned Parenthood, and it is not about banning abortion or protecting zygotes and fetuses. Monica Miller is one of this weekend’s ‘harass Planned Parenthood” rally organizers who was honest and angry when she said,
“Planned Parenthood from the top to the bottom is a corrupt organization… corrupt in its view of the sanctity of life and corrupt in its view of human sexuality. I say even if Planned Parenthood didn’t perform one single abortion, just the mere fact that its sexual ethic is corrupted means right there, should be the reason right there, that they should not receive any federal money. The kind of sexual ethic that Planned Parenthood promotes is sex for recreation, sex for mere pleasure.”
Or in the words of more than a couple of patriarchal Republican misogynists; social conservatives demand a prohibition on American women, married or single, having “consequence free sex.” Of course the consequence in this case is producing an offspring annually, or being guilty of, according to the Catholic Humanae Vitae, a mortal sin against god. To make their point and set American women on the religious path or righteous subjugation to a man, pro-lifers cite a woman who should be disgraced, Michelle Duggar of “19 Kids and Counting” fame, as the archetype of a “real Christian woman.”
According to pro-lifers, women can only engage in sexual relations as a man’s property like a good submissive sex slave; even within the confines of marriage. Last week Michelle Duggar doled out some ‘righteous’ advice to women on their biblical role according to god:
“So be available, and not just available, but be joyfully available for him. Smile and be willing to say, ‘Yes, sweetie I am here for you, no matter what, even though you may be exhausted and big pregnant and you may not feel like he feels. I’m still here for you and I’m going to meet that need because I know it’s a need for you.”
For Americans that are unfamiliar with the evangelical mindset of a woman’s role in the home and society, instead of taking any time to peruse the Christian bible for instructions for being a good submissive wife, Duggar’s ‘advice’ to women fairly sums up exactly what the pro-life crowd and Catholic dogma require of a “good Christian woman,” and it is precisely what they demand all American women should aspire to.
Over the past four years Republicans have controlled the House, there have been numerous attacks on women’s reproductive rights and their goal is no different than that of Hobby Lobby’s owners, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), personhood movement advocates, and social conservatives driven to destroy Planned Parenthood. It has never been about abortion or even banning contraception; it has always been about controlling women by putting them in the place their patriarchal mindset insists they belong; at home, producing offspring, ‘servicing‘ their man on demand, and emptying his chamber pot.
It is really unreasonable to claim categorically that where a person “falls on Planned Parenthood really reflects where they fall on the fundamental questions of sex.” It is likely there are some Americans that are genuinely sincere in thinking that protecting a single-celled organism or a non-living being fetus is about protecting life. But the religious zealots driving the pro-life movement are solely on a crusade to control women and their sexual activity. Anyone in their right mind understands that providing STD screenings and access to contraception to “make sure that sex is safe and without unintended consequences” accounts for the lion’s share of what Planned Parenthood does and the anti-choice movement knows it as well. The religious right and Catholic bishops are lying when they claim that legal abortion drives their campaign to dominate women, because their real motivation is, at its core, their vision of Christian liberty to regulate every American woman’s sexual activity.
At least now they are being honest and admitting that is, and has always been, their goal. Sadly, that idea of a woman existing as a sex slave for a man, any man, is a concept that is rampant among the male population that wants to “take their country back” to Puritanical America and put women in their biblical place. If any American, man or woman, thinks the pro-life zealots will not do their worst according to their misogynistic religion they are sadly mistaken and will likely be the first to be “regulated” by the pro-life sex police. Americans should prepare for some serious Christian Sharia if these evangelical zealouts acquire any more power because this vile pro-life movement’s assault on Planned Parenthood is a prelude to an anti-sex crusade and inquisition.
Born in the South, raised in the Mid-West and California for a well-rounded view of America; it doesn't look good.
Former minister, lifelong musician, Mahayana Zen-Buddhist.
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