“What happened to the Republican Party that I joined?”... lawmaker outraged by his party’s sexism

[babylonsister]

Thursday, Apr 3, 2014 07:45 AM EST
Katie McDonough
“What happened to the Republican Party that I joined?” Meet the lawmaker outraged by his party’s sexism
Oklahoma state Rep. Doug Cox tells Salon why his Republican colleagues' policies are "discriminatory against women"


Oklahoma state Rep. Doug Cox is an anomaly, and he knows it. As a self-identified pro-life Republican in a deep red state, Cox makes for an unlikely ally in the reproductive rights movement. But that hasn’t stopped him from being an outspoken critic of his colleagues’ efforts to scale back access to contraception and abortion services.

In a letter to his fellow Republicans, Cox admonished the modern GOP for its fixation on controlling women’s bodies. Writing in response to a proposal to ban Medicaid coverage for emergency contraception and allow pharmacists to refuse to fill prescriptions for birth control, Cox asked, ”What happened to the Republican Party that I joined? The party where conservative presidential candidate Barry Goldwater felt women should have the right to control their own destiny?” On the House floor this week, Cox blasted his colleagues for pushing Texas-style restrictions on providers and regulations around emergency contraception that he called “prejudiced against women.”

Beyond his voting record, Cox is something of an outlier in his party for another reason: He seems to have genuine empathy for and an understanding of the women in his state making incredibly personal medical decisions.

Cox is an emergency room physician who has, by his own count, delivered 800 babies. He considers himself pro-life, but supports — both in his capacities as a lawmaker and a doctor – a person’s right to make private medical choices. “Now, I’ve never performed an abortion, but I can tell {someone} where to go,” he told Salon during a phone conversation about the current reproductive health landscape in Oklahoma. “And if my colleagues have their way, that place would not be in Oklahoma.”

more...

http://www.salon.com/2014/04/03/what_happened_to_the_republican_party_that_i_joined_meet_the_lawmaker_outraged_by_his_partys_sexism/

[CJCRANE]

1. I dunno...

Maybe some kind of mass hypnosis based on extremist religious propaganda...

[sheshe2]

2. Kudos to Oklahoma state Rep. Doug Cox

But I find it very discriminatory that a 14-year-old boy can stop in a truck stop and buy all the condoms that he wants, where he can control his destiny, and yet we’re taking a choice of controlling her own destiny away from a female. We’ve had over 2,000 pregnancies of among teens 17 and under — and remember that 75 percent of people who deliver babies when they’re 17 got pregnant when they were 16. The reason that’s important is those kids who are 16 and under would not be allowed to buy the morning-after pill without a prescription.

This also discriminates against low-income people, because they’re less likely to be able to afford to go to a doctor, less likely to have the insurance to get the prescription. Meanwhile, any time you make it available by prescription only you’re basically adding $100 to the cost. Especially for someone who doesn’t have a doctor, because that initial office visit is going to be 100 bucks.

So it’s discriminatory against women, it’s discriminatory against low-income people. You also hear, “Oh, this medicine is related to steroids. There’s potentially a lot of side effects.” Well, this medicine has gone through extensive testing by the Food and Drug Administration. And the FDA is not perfect. And the FDA is in Washington, D.C., so Oklahomans don’t like it, but it has served the public of the United States quite well over the years. The morning-after pill is FDA approved, and — as I said in my debate yesterday — I dare say there are more people who have allergic reactions to the latex in condoms than have reactions to the morning-after pill.

And so, again, that’s a smokescreen to cut off women’s choices. And it’s frustrating to me. I’m a Republican, but I guess I’m a fiscal conservative but a social moderate, because it’s frustrating to me that the Republican Party is going down this road. And whether they want to admit it or not, they’re alienating women and minority voters in this country, and the pendulum’s going to swing on them if they’re not careful.

http://www.salon.com/2014/04/03/what_happened_to_the_republican_party_that_i_joined_meet_the_lawmaker_outraged_by_his_partys_sexism/

Thanks, bsis, great article!

[Skittles]

3. what's with these assholes acting like their party recently changed?