Eye On Modesto

 

Republican candidate Mitt Romney has an article in today’s edition of USA Today, discussing whether we want to be a country of entitlement or opportunity.  He contends that President Obama has turned us into a country of entitlement by expanding government into health care, finance, energy, industry, the environment and labor.  I am not going to comment on whether he is right or wrong about that. 

 

What I find interesting, is that all of the GOP candidates promote smaller, less intrusive government, claiming that having that will get us back on course to be a country of opportunity.  What they fail to see is that they are denying opportunity to a large portion of American citizens by trying to take away their right to birth control.  The ability to control when and how often a woman gives birth is fundamental to the opportunities she can provide for herself and her family.  You can have a career if you don’t have a baby every year.  You can send 1, 2 or 3 children to college, but can you afford to send 10?  You can provide good nutritious food and quality health care for 2 or 3 children, but what if you had 12?

 

The state of Virginia is attempting to ban the birth control pill.  I’m sure there will be lawsuits filed and eventually it will be settled in the courts.  In the meantime, other states will follow suit.  Some states are trying to pass laws giving rights to a fertilized egg.  Giving those rights takes away the rights of women.  The GOP isn’t exactly known for being “family friendly”.  They want to cut aid to dependent children, they want to cut WIC (women, infants and children) programs.  They don’t even like the part of Obama’s health care plan that allows parents to keep their children on their insurance until the age of 25. 

 

And now they want to stop us from preventing pregnancies.  What could be more intrusive?

 

Do we want this to be a country that denies a basic human right to a large percentage of it’s population?