The Left’s One-Dimensional, Insulting View of Women
Until the Left amends its yard-sign to reflect the real lives of women, women should vote for candidates based on their pocketbooks and security.
Driving to my sister’s house this weekend in left-leaning Worthington, Ohio, I noticed a political yard-sign that read: “Support a Woman’s Right, Vote Democratic.” The sign struck me for the unintended point it actually made versus what the creator and homeowner meant to convey. The latter obviously hyperfocused on a woman’s right to abort a baby no matter what the gestational age of the baby in utero was and the fact that the Democratic Party will undertake any means necessary to ensure a woman can abort a baby at any point from fertilization through birth.
The former unintended point, however, was the far bigger, more important, and, frankly, insulting one; namely, the Left sees women as one-dimensional creatures who care about little more than their ability to abort a baby. After all, aren’t there other rights women care about that should be protected by policymakers and are at issue this election?
Let me name a few.
A woman’s right to have a say in her children’s education. Why should teachers’ unions or left-wing special interest groups have more to say about the content of educational material of America’s youth than a mom?
A woman’s right to ensure her daughters don’t face unfair competition in sports against boys or face security issues in bathrooms that allow boys to enter girls’ restrooms. Why should a boy be able to compete against girls given the known physical advantages boys have over girls in size and speed or use a bathroom that invades the privacy and security of young women?
A woman’s right to live free of fear in her own neighborhood because the police enforce the laws and prosecutors put violent criminals away and don’t release them back into the community. Why should violent criminals receive more compassion than their victims or future victims and why should prosecutors refuse to enforce laws because elite, wealthy donors who live behind security walls and employ private security forces want to gamble with others’ safety and lives?
A woman’s right to defend herself with a gun should she deem it necessary. Why should a woman be prohibited from carrying a gun for protection thereby making her a target of criminals?
A woman’s right to keep more of her hard-earned wages so she can provide for herself and her family. Why should government take more money from a single mom when she is best-suited to determine how her money is best spent?
A woman’s right not to see inflation and interest rates spurred by government spending excesses make her have to choose between going without versus groceries, gas, and good health. Why should policymakers deliberately spend money America doesn’t have that drives inflation and interest rates to record levels leaving citizens poorer?
Last I checked, there were far more women who lived daily with the above rights being violated than the number of women who want an abortion free of any restrictions. There are roughly 40 million girls under 19 years of age and another 129 million in America who possess one or more of the above rights. Yet, the Democratic Party either doesn’t care or actively seeks to curtail the rights noted above.
In terms of the one right that gets 100% of the focus of the Left, according to the Guttmacher Institute, there were just over 900,000 abortions in 2020, with 92.7% of all abortions occurring between fertilization and the 13th week. Of the 50 states and the District of Columbia, only 13 states limit abortion before the 13th week. Thus, given how few states impose restrictions before the 13th week and how few abortions happen thereafter in America, few women after the Dobbs decision actually have their right to abortion restricted in any meaningful manner. The Democratic Party, however, makes it seem as if millions upon millions of women spend nine months of their year every year carrying babies they don’t want.
Imagine if the Left spent a quarter of the energy it puts on abortion to ensuring a woman can influence her child’s education, maintain a level playing field for her daughter, live without fear in her neighborhood, defend herself when needed, or simply keep more of her earnings. Women should be empowered and secure in their persons. Instead, the Left seeks to undermine their economic and physical security at every turn.
Imagine if the Left saw women as far more than one-dimensional creatures who possess just one right that the vast majority of women never actually use. Every day in America, tens of millions of women agonize at their kitchen tables about rights they see being undermined or taken by the Left. Until the Left amends its yard-sign to reflect the real lives of women, women should vote for candidates based on their pocketbooks and security.