Bush has reproductive rights in his sights in his last days [View All]

[babylonsister]

http://www.salon.com/mwt/broadsheet/2008/11/04/bush/

Bush isn't done yet!

My alarm clock came at 6 a.m. this morning in the form of a man standing on my street corner with an Obama-Biden sign urging drivers to honk their hearts out -- it hasn't stopped since. Normally, it's the type of noise pollution that sends me mentally rummaging through my fridge for items -- eggs, perhaps? -- that could be thrown to the street in warning, but it took more than a rude awakening to dampen my Election Day spirits. It took today's New York Times editorial on the damage Bush will do in his remaining 77 days in office. Buzz kill.

The Times puts it plainly: Instead of the usual "last-minute policy stamp," Bush is taking "a wrecking ball" to the White House. The editorial details the many ways Bush will attack civil liberties, the environment and, of course, reproductive rights. Some day soon, Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael Leavitt will issue regulations in defense of "health care provider conscience," which would restrict women's access to abortions, birth control and medical information. "Existing law allows doctors and nurses to refuse to participate in an abortion," says the Times. "These changes would extend the so-called right to refuse to a wide range of health care workers and activities including abortion referrals, unbiased counseling and provision of birth control pills or emergency contraception, even for rape victims."

Here's hoping we elect someone today who can clean up the mess Bush has made -- and has yet to make.

― Tracy Clark-Flory

Times editorial here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x398795