GOP Congresswomen: Soldiers in the REPUBLICAN WAR ON WOMEN

Democracy Labs

4 years ago

GOP Congresswomen: Soldiers in the REPUBLICAN WAR ON WOMEN

Republican congresswomen deny other women their freedom to choose when to have a family.

Republicans have stacked the Supreme Court with right wing zealots who have overturned Roe v Wade allowing states to ban abortions – even with no exception for rape nor incest. Who are the GOP Congresswomen helping wage this Republican war on other women? How were they involved in the effort to overturn the results of the 2020 elections? How does the Republican vision for America resemble The Handmaid’s Tale? Check this map.

White men are 30% of US population but 62% of officeholders. 93% of Republican 2020 candidates were white and less than 25% were women. Democratic candidates, on the other hand, were 44% women and 32% people of color. – The Guardian

Mapping the Republican War on Women

Share this map freely with this link or as a GIF

House GOP women

“House GOP women are a crucial piece of party’s next move on abortion. After last week’s Supreme Court ruling, some Republican leaders immediately called for codifying a nationwide ban on abortion, arguing that it was the logical next step in the right’s multi-decade quest to outlaw abortion.” – WaPo

Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-Ind.) is hoping to advance her legislation that would increase reporting about abortion pills, while also beginning to look at what other regulations can be used on such drugs.
But of the roughly one dozen House Republican women who spoke to The Washington Post about current plans, few wanted to discuss the possible legislative implications of the recent Supreme Court decision. Nineteen offices did not respond to requests for interviews.
“I’ll put it to you this way: It’s an anti-woman, anti-people of color platform. It’s taking us back to the days, the heydays, of the KKK without the hoods and where women are people to be controlled. That’s their vision for the entire country,” Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-Tex.) said. – WaPo

Handmaid’s Tale: Republican Edition

“The Handmaid’s Tale is a futuristic dystopian novel by Margaret Atwood, published in 1985. It is set in a near-future New England, in a strongly patriarchal, white supremacist, totalitarian / theocratic state, known as the Republic of Gilead, which has overthrown the United States Government. The central character and narrator is a woman named Offred, one of the “handmaids” — a group of women who are forcibly assigned to produce children for the “commanders” — the ruling class of men in Gilead.” – Wikipedia

Aunts are a class of strict and powerfully disciplinary women in Gilead. They are some of the highest-ranking women, responsible for overseeing the training and indoctrination of Handmaids, overseeing births, and presiding over women’s executions. Aunts are usually fanatical supporters of Gilead and are brutal in their indoctrination of the Handmaids. Their training often involves Bible readings and sermons, lectures on Gilead’s beliefs and on morality and ‘a woman’s place’, viewings of violent, hardcore pornography and ‘therapy’ sessions, where women are forced to share their darkest secrets and ‘sins’ and are publicly shamed for them, as if it was their own fault.” – The Handmaid’s Tale Fandom

This DemLabs blog compares the Republican vision with that of the ruling class of men in Gilead. Judge for yourself how close the two visions seem.

How this map was designed

This map was designed using ArcGIS Online with free data from GovTrack which helps Americans participate in their national legislature. It publishes the status of federal legislation, information about representatives and senators in Congress including voting records, and original research on legislation. It is one of the oldest government transparency websites in the world.
Additional information was added from Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP). The CAWP Women Elected Officials Database represents the most complete collection of information anywhere in the world about women elected officials. The database includes geographic information, party identification, and race where available for each official. It contains entries for more than eleven thousand women officeholders dating back to 1893 when a woman was first elected to a statewide executive position.

The map can be searched by clicking on an elected official’s name and includes the following calls to action:

Margaret Atwood

“Freedom, like everything else, is relative.”- Margaret Atwood. Throughout history, various marginalized groups have been oppressed and dehumanized. One person’s freedom completely depends on their personal situation; people are still having their primary rights stolen from them. Therefore, protesting becomes a familiar method for fighting for the rights that should not have to be fought for. Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” depicts the importance of protesting, and how the lack thereof prevents society’s voices from being heard. Some evident connections to our lives today include; Abortion Rights, Anti-Semitism, and Segregation.

“The Handmaid’s Tale” firmly focuses on women possessing no control over their lives, which illustrates an extremist version of anti-abortion. Globally there have been protests supporting women and their right to have control over their own bodies.

Some may believe abortion is morally wrong. What they choose to ignore is that many abortions take place because of rape, protecting the life of the mother, or because the child would have to be given up. Certain people who are Pro-life believe that in rare cases abortion is the only option. Women should not feel be shamed for the choices they make, likewise, people should not have to worry about being killed for their religion.” – IvyMoose

TakeAway: Elections matter. Vote PRO CHOICE for candidates who’ll fight for your freedom to choose when to have a family – not create the Handmaid’s Tale.

Deepak
DemLabs

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