Chris Jepson: Where Neanderthals gather for solace

"I consider abortion to be a deeply personal and intimate issue for women and I don’t believe male legislators should even vote on the issue." 
—Alan K. Simpson

What is it with white boys and women’s bodies? According to Planned Parenthood, “Seventy-seven percent of anti-abortion leaders are men.” Want to hear the punch line? “100% of them will never be pregnant.” Is that a hoot or what? Not so much. But seriously, what is it with white boys and women’s bodies? I’m with former Wyoming Senator Simpson. It’s none of our (men’s) business – the management of a woman’s body – but tell that to the rest of the boys of the Republican Party.

Republican men just don’t seem to get enough … laws that is. Laws marginalizing women and their uteruses. Take our very own Florida legislature. When they’re not cutting taxes for corporations or passing regulations compromising Florida’s water (See: restricting local anti-fracking initiatives), they’re up to their, uh, elbows, in women’s personal business. Why is that? What makes men think they have the right to meddle in the reproductive choices of women?

There are – right now – a number of initiatives in the Florida legislature that would further restrict or limit a woman’s reproductive rights. Last week a Florida House criminal justice panel voted 8-3 to advance legislation (HB 865) that would make performing an abortion or operating an abortion clinic a crime.

It’s essentially elected men – white boys nationwide as well as in our Florida legislature – who think like “Joliet” Jake and Elwood of Blues Brothers Fame, that they are on a mission from god.

How does a man with a straight face tell any woman (all women) that he knows best what her fate should be? What hubris. What insanity. They might as well come out and say, “Baby girl, Daddy knows best for you cuz sometimes little girls just don’t have the ability to think for themselves.” Let’s cut to the chase. Sadly, too many men do not sufficiently respect women to allow them the right to manage their own bodies. No self-respecting man would ever allow another man to tell him what to do with his body. Why then should women?

Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger said, “No woman can call herself free who does not control her own body.”

Control is the crux of the issue. Does America sufficiently respect her daughters to “allow” them to think for themselves? To make decisions regarding their bodies and to make such decisions (reproductive choice, birth control, etc.) on their own without government (essentially male) interference? Tragically, sadly, no. A vast majority of Republican men (legislators) think American women are incapable of thinking for themselves – let alone govern their own bodies.

“For what is this ban on abortion? … It is a survival of the veiled face, of the barred window and the locked door, of burning, branding, mutilation, stoning; of all the pain and fear inflicted ever since the grip of ownership and superstition came down on women, thousands of years ago.” —Stella Browne

Historically, men have had their boot heels on the necks of women for eons. Imagine our world today if, for the past 5,000 years, all women had had a seat of equality at the table of humanity. The struggle for female reproductive rights is but a continuation of the historic struggle for female equality (freedom).

Some might argue that if Neanderthals exist today, they would find solidarity with the men of the GOP. Evolve lads.