Tangled

Wading Through the Information Overload

I am getting stuck in the weeds right now. You know what I mean? I read something and I look that up and then what I read there makes me dig into something else and all of a sudden, I am missing the forest for the trees. It feels exhausting lifting one foot after the other and dragging them through tangles of plant growth. In the end all I have are a bunch of statistics and a whole lot of frustration. And this is the plan, isn’t it? Keep us so overwhelmed that it is impossible to be aware of everything that is happening any given day. We are bound to miss things. I am exhausted from trying to keep up.

And then I remember my lane. The lane of women and women rights. I keep finding myself veering into the other lanes. Like I am currently being lulled into the madness that is the Department of Health and Human Services. I find myself appalled at the bent toward eugenics through RFKJr.”s leadership. Maybe soon I will dedicate a blog to that but today I am staying in my lane.

There is a bill in the House, it was introduced back in January (HB7). I am linking it here. https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-resolution/7

It is entitled, Recognizing the importance of access to comprehensive, high-quality, life-affirming medical care for women of all ages.

Under the guise of care for women, this bill takes away traditional health care for women and replaces it with Pro Women Health Care Centers, basically religious “crisis pregnancy” like centers for all women. These centers will provide “life-affirming” care.

When I first read about this law a few months ago I was skeptical about that one clause “life affirming medical care.” The other thing that gave me pause was that it was introduced by Mr. Biggs of Arizona and Mr. Higgins of Louisianna. I have taken enough trips around the sun to know that bills introduced by men for women are rarely a good thing for women. Men just keep on thinking that they know what is best for us. And do you know why they continue to believe this? It is because we are not equal as women. This bill in condescending and does not provide for the needs of women outside of a very conservative evangelical Biblical world view.

Here are a few lines taken directly from this bill:

Whereas women of all ages should have access to comprehensive, convenient, compassionate, life-affirming, high-quality medical services.

Whereas health care for women should also address the needs of MEN, families, and communities as they relate to women’s health care. (My emphasis on men)

It does this by creating Pro Women Health Care Centers. I downloaded a brochure for these centers, and it is honestly terrifying. Life-affirming care is simply a softer phrase meaning pro-life just as I suspected. These centers would replace traditional health care and Planned Parenthood.

According to the brochure under birth control it states:

Empowering a woman to understand her body’s natural fertility is empowering and effective

family planning, with no damage to her health or relationships by artificial

contraception.

What? Women’s birth control is about not damaging her relationship. Does this mean men should be considered when a woman is having a conversation with her physician about birth control? For many women in healthy egalitarian relationships birth control creates healthy dialogue around the many options, sure, but the way this is worded seems to imply that men are actively involved in the decision with the provider. It sounds like birth control is less about the woman and more about the man. In the language of this bill women’s health care is to address the needs of men, families and communities.

Pro Women Health Care centers are decidedly pro-life, they have a narrow understanding of the complex challenges that might lead a women to seek an abortion. Naively and dualistically believing that supporting a woman through her pregnancy is where the needs end. What about things like paid leave, health care for her and the child, affordable child care, flexibility at work and other kinds of support? There are women who regret having an abortion, there are also women feel confident in their decision. This lumping all women into this conservative mold is not anywhere near accurate, and it does a disservice to the very group they say they aim to support.

I really hope that this bill doesn’t make out of the house. It is offensive, sexist, misogynistic and demeaning. It is yet another strategic move toward fulfilling the goals of Project 2025.

Speaking of Project 2025, President Trump on the 23^rd of April signed another executive order that seeks to move our county backwards when it comes to women’s rights. The order titled “Restoring Equal Opportunity and Meritocracy” deprioritizes the enforcement of statutes and regulations that include disparate-impact liability. From what I can gather, disparate impact means basically unintended bias. Where one group is favored over another seemingly inadvertently. This EO has the potential to impact a woman’s ability to get a loan. In 1974 the Equal Opportunity Credit Act was passed, and women could finally get a loan by themselves without their husband’s signature. Deprioritizing the enforcement of these and other statutes and regulations opens the door for women to be denied credit. And this could impact her financial stability.

Project 2025 is devastating for women. It calls for:

· Banning abortion and contraception

· Reversing gender equality laws

· Destroying civil rights protections

· Enforcing “traditional family” roles.

The strategy of our current administration is to roll back our autonomy as women. Taking over our health care and limiting our financial control are a part of the overall plan to put us back in our place.

I will probably continue to get stuck in the weeds. I will continue to veer into other lanes because it is all upsetting. But I will be diligent in seeking truth and using the resources we still have to determine the accuracy of what is being reported. While at the same time getting outside and enjoying the real weeds, grasses, trails, and paths throughout the beautiful natural world here in Southern Ohio.