Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Voting to Change the World for Women

I was too tired to figure this out last night. But just as there was a dirty dozen list of representatives and senators dangerous to the environment, there's a group you love to hate when it comes to feminist issues.

First up, and a little off the subject, South Dakota defeated the ban on all abortion. And not by a small margin. Good job, guys. It seems to me that even staunchly pro-life supporters couldn't support that law. California and Oregon both struck down mandatory parental notification laws; these laws provided no exceptions even when a teenager would be endangering herself with the notification.

Now, here the group I love to hate re: anti-choice legislation.
  • Sen. Jim Talent of Missouri (not surprisingly on the environmental list as well) -defeated by a pro-choice candidate
  • Rep. Randy Graf (AZ) -defeated by a pro-choice candidate
  • Rep. Curt Weldon(PA) -defeated by a pro-choice candidate
  • Sen Mike DeWine (OH) -defeated by a pro-choice candidate


We still have plenty of anti-choice representatives and senators. And the Supreme Court is at work as we speak. So there's still a lot to be done. Nonetheless, today I'm celebrating.


5 comments:

Anonymous said...

When I heard about South Dakota I was so relieved!

Andrea Rusin said...

Oh, me too.

Anonymous said...

What scares me a little is the large number (and increasing) of Democrats that are "pro-life." I feel like the Dems have too many candidates/politicians that always try to placate the right/center instead of listening to their base.

Not that someone should have certain views because they are a member of the party - but perhaps we need more than 2 choices for political affiliation.

Andrea Rusin said...

Well, I officially joined the Green Party during this election cycle. I just had to have an affiliation I could affirm rather than merely tolerate. In my little burg, the Democrats can't even run a full slate of candidates. It's pretty sad.

Bob P said...

I too was thrilled at the "mind your own business" declaration by South Dakota's electorate.

Perhaps the first female Speaker of the House in America's history will put the brakes on the flurry of fundamentalist, women-as-second-class-citizens attitudes that seem to have gained momentum over the past six years. I'm keeping my fingers crossed...