Can Someone Remind Bernie Sanders That Abortion is an Economic Issue?

[swag]

http://www.portlandmercury.com/blogtown/2017/04/21/18966284/can-someone-remind-bernie-sanders-that-abortion-is-an-economic-issue

by Megan Burbank

Bernie Sanders is in trouble with major reproductive rights group NARAL Pro-Choice America after campaigning for an anti-choice Democrat, Heath Mello.

This isn't the first time Sanders' dedication to reproductive rights has been called into question. It happened during his 2016 campaign as well, when Sanders called Planned Parenthood part of "the establishment," a move that belied a disappointing lack of dedication to abortion rights and respect for reproductive rights advocacy. Abortion, turns out, is just not Sanders' issue, and when it shows, it's in embarrassing ways—like casually campaigning for someone who's advocated to force women to undergo ultrasounds before having an abortion.

What's particularly frustrating about all of this is that abortion is very much an economic issue. Sanders should care about it through that lens alone. It's an economic issue, because stigmatizing abortion and segmenting it away from other types of healthcare has had the effect of making it less accessible to low-income women. It's an economic issue because raising a child is costly. It's an economic issue because the Hyde Amendment, which bans Medicaid funds from covering abortion, specifically targets poor women, and affects their ability to afford and access the procedure, and thus maintain economic stability and freedom. It's an economic issue because when women have to cross state lines to access care, that costs money too. It's an economic issue because there's a stark divide between wealthy women, who face fewer barriers to abortion, and poor women, who are often the ones disproportionately impacted by anti-choice policies.

The truth is that limiting abortion access is just another way of reinforcing economic inequality. And Bernie Sanders, of all people, should understand this. But he must not, because the man who campaigned on issues of economic inequality is apparently willing to let go of those values where poor women are concerned.

. . . more

[Sculpin Beauregard]

1. Stop with the Bernie articles. This is active measures

trying to help the GOP keep power.

Get Trump maladministraion out first!

This bullshit is like worrying about your hangnail instead of your heart attack. Focus! Stay united to get Cheeto out!!!

[swag]

3. Thanks for your unsolicited advice,

but I'll post what I want about the junior senator from Vermont, who has emphatically stated that he is not a Democrat (and who proves it more and more each day), as long as he keeps acting like this.

Cheers!

[Me.]

5. Here's More On The Issue

Women have got to refuse the intimation that we should shut up about this, especially regarding the all guy 'unity' tour. Maybe they're getting the message because Cecile Richards is joining for part of the tour.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/reminder-abortion-is-an-economic-issue_us_58f8d11be4b018a9ce58dd4f?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009

[Sculpin Beauregard]

8. Whatever. Enjoy the destruction of your country.

Can't see forest for trees.

[swag]

11. Enjoy sitting by while Sanders throws women under the bus.

[Sculpin Beauregard]

12. You don't get it. I give up.

Good luck.

[swag]

14. Thank you.

[LisaM]

35. Swag does get it. This country as a whole does not.

I have the luxury of being able to listen to Canadian radio over the weekend sometimes. This past weekend, I got to hear a panel of women discuss the sudden relevance of "The Handmaid's Tale", both the book and the new movie. It was a very civil, nuanced discussion, with an undercurrent of real fear.

The allegory to women of limited means being forced to procreate for the world was not lost on these women. Sadly, it's not one of the issues at the forefront for some aspiring to be the voice of the Democratic party (whether or not they belong to it).

[Me.]

18. Beg To Differ

Women are not the ones destroying the country.

[NastyRiffraff]

24. Women are part of the "forest"

Women's reproductive rights aren't going to go away as an issue. We're as much a part of "your country" as you are and we're not going to shut up.

[ProfessorPlum]

23. Is Bernie really not a Democrat?

First I've heard of it.

[musette_sf]

36. + 1 xoxo

and we REALLY need a women's rights smilie!

[Cha]

25. NO.. this is Important NEWS! BS didn't mind insulting the Democratic

Party.. did you say that was "active measures" to help the GOP keep power"?

[msongs]

2. from what Ive read it is a stretch to say he was campaigning for mello nt

[swag]

4. " it was Sanders', and not the DNC's, idea to hold a rally for Mello."

http://www.npr.org/2017/04/20/524962482/sanders-defends-campaigning-for-anti-abortion-rights-democrat

[Me.]

6. But Perez Went Along With It

So it seems that many guys need to be educated about this.

[Cha]

26. Yeah, and it seems Tom has learned his lesson..

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[Me.]

30. Mahalo Cha

Good to know. Also read that Cecile Richards is joining the tour for at least part of it.

[Cha]

31. Yes.. brilliant decision!

'Bout time!

[Demsrule86]

33. He is holding a rally for Mello and called him a 'rising star'.

[L. Coyote]

7. Why the divisiveness? #TrumpRussia instead of #Primary2016 please.

We need to live in the present at this point, and not bash our own.

[Sculpin Beauregard]

9. Exactly. Or recent history will repeat.

[swag]

10. This is not primary 2016. This is Sanders being retrograde right now.

[panader0]

13. Can someone please remind ALL of the Republicans that

abortion is an economic issue?
Or is just Bernie the enemy?

[swag]

15. Yeah, Republicans are mostly bad.

[Me.]

16. Women's Issues Are Not Divisive

Certainly not to women and a must from here on in for any agenda. So if we're talking unity within the party, women's issues need to be paid attention to and included. It is shortsighted of economic populists not to realize that these very issues are also economic issues.

[swag]

17. I don't know if Saint Bernard is a progressive.

[DanTex]

19. It certainly is. But I think that kind of misses the point.

Not to be critical of the OP, because I agree entirely.

But choice doesn't need to be an economic issue to be justified. Even if it weren't an economic issue, the moral case in favor of it would be just as strong. And the moral case is: it's a woman's body, she gets to decide what to do with it, not a committee of male religious fundamentalists. Case closed.

Yes, Bernie needs to understand that abortion is an economic issue. But even more than that (IMO) he needs to understand that social issues like choice and LGBT rights are important in their own right, aside from their economic implications.

[swag]

20. Excellent points

[Igel]

21. And yet, the options are 2.

(R) or (D).

Those who uphold purity to a single, pre-set position often not only let the perfect be the enemy of the good, they insist on it and demand that others also let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

Consider this: If we get a $15/hr minimum wage, it will reduce the likelihood of a revolution that will bring equality for all. Therefore, the appropriate view is that a $15/hr minimum wage is, really, taking the perfect view, the enemy of the working class. The proper attitude must be to work to denigrate and humiliate workers until they rise up.

In the past, some had sincerely held this kind of anti-humanistic POV.

So, which is better, Mello or his (R) opponent? Not just on The Issue, but on the range of issues that reasonable people may reasonably hold opinion on?

If (R) is better, then there's little more to say. If (D) is better, perhaps working for his election is a good thing, albeit not perfect.

If the (R) is elected, then maybe he'll change his mind and adopt puristic (D) views. I wouldn't hold out a lot of hope for that.

If the (D) is elected, then maybe he'll change his mind and actually accept the positions that he's said he supports--not those he supported 6 years ago and for which the Absolute Judgement that he is anti-woman must forever be true. (One strike and you're out. In other words, embrace zero tolerance.)

Or is it appropriate to hold out that if the (R) is elected, after a term or two maybe a sufficiently pure (D) candidate will be brought forward that will win a plurality and be seated?


This is not something I consider wise.

[frazzled]

22. I think we need to write to Tom Perez

I, for one, intend to do so (spouting our opinions here gets rid of steam, but this is an important issue, and I think we should make our feelings known to the person in charge).

I'd like him to know that while I do not insist on litmus tests for our Democratic candidates (I understand the necessity to elect Democrats in red states), I am nonetheless bewildered by the decision to throw so much publicity into a local mayoral race in a city that is probably not even all that red, and where the candidate has expressed overtly anti-choice views. Especially when your touring partner in this so-called "Unity Tour" declined to extend an endorsement in a very important federal election in Georgia. I am loath to let one person, who is not even a member of the party and who criticizes it frequently, to determine what constitutes "progressive" values for the majority of loyal Democrats. Support for women to make their own health decisions has been a bedrock of the liberal Democratic agenda for many decades.

It is not in the interest of Party unity to disregard the social and economic interests of more than 50% of its dedicated voters. Our support and participation are not to be taken for granted. When the Party chooses to cater to independents and disaffected Trump voters at the expense of long-term Democrats who have walked the streets canvassing and manned (and womaned!) the phone banks and donated our dollars, it does not help to promote unity: it offends our values.

Please, expand your "Unity" program to be inclusive of the many voices that comprise our Party. Trying to expand it while losing the rest of us doesn't make sense. It's divisive.

[Demsrule86]

34. I called them....and I think others did too because the DNC has distanced themselves

from Mello and Perez is going to Georgia to participate in an Ossoff rally.

"The DNC is doing its best to distance itself from the Mello endorsement. Party staffers were quick to tell reporters that it was Sanders', and not the DNC's, idea to hold a rally for Mello."

http://www.npr.org/2017/04/20/524962482/sanders-defends-campaigning-for-anti-abortion-rights-democrat

[onecaliberal]

27. Don't feed! Trash thread

[Cha]

29. Thanks for the kick.. this is important!

[Cha]

28. Tom Perez is Getting it NOW..

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Thank you for this, swag.. From Portland

[musette_sf]

37. K&R xoxo