Our Right - and Obligation - to Vote

Last night Hillary Clinton spoke on the anniversary of women's right to vote. After her speech, I wrote to my cousin "she made me laugh, she made me cry, she made me proud." She also brought front and center the choices that women have in this year's election.

In 2000 and 2004 I asked friends who planned to vote for Bush, "how can you, as a woman, support a Republican?" My concerns over the  arch-conservatives' impact on women have more than been fulfilled. Our freedoms have eroded and economic policies have had a disproportionate adverse effect on women.

The 2008 election brings our choices front and center once again. To me a woman supporting John McCain is like a hen supporting Frank Perdue. Planned Parenthood lays out the top 10 reasons why here:

1. John McCain opposes equal pay legislation, saying it wouldn't do "anything to help the rights of women."
2. John McCain opposes requiring health care plans to cover prescription birth control.
3. John McCain opposes comprehensive medically accurate sex education.
4. John McCain opposes common sense funding to prevent unintended and teen pregnancies.
5. John McCain opposes funding for public education about emergency contraception.
6. John McCain opposes restoring family planning services for low-income women.
7. John McCain opposes Roe v. Wade and says it should be overturned.
8. John McCain wants to nominate Supreme Court justices who are "clones" of conservative Justices Alito and Roberts.
9. When asked whether contraceptives help stop the spread of HIV, John McCain said he was "stumped."
10. In his 25 years in Washington, D.C., John McCain has voted against women's reproductive rights and privacy 125 times.

You can check their facts at the Planned Parenthood Action fund's Web site.

Several years ago, a study by the Federal Reserve Bank found an incontrovertible correlation between women's reproductive rights and women's economic advancement.  Our right to control our reproductive lives has been under assault for the past 8 years and will continue to be should McCain be elected.

Thanks to the women who have come before us, we have the right to vote. When considering my obligation to vote, although I wish I could vote for a woman in this year's presidential election, I will not turn my back on women's issues and vote for McCain. I will be voting for Obama/Biden '08.

Lead On!
Susan 

Because I am relentless in keeping the Leading Women website apolitical and non-partisan, I appreciate the opportunity to voice my political views here on my blog.