mothers day

Last night House Republicans voted in favor of an appalling piece of anti-choice legislation that could force victims of rape and incest to relive their trauma during an IRS audit and deny millions of American women access to life-saving reproductive health care.

Their assault on women has nothing to do with saving money and everything to do with forcing extremist beliefs into the tax code of the United States of America. And they didn't stop there. They used the occasion to sneak in a provision restricting the definition of rape to deny victims access to reproductive health care -- even after they claimed to have removed the language in the face of overwhelming public opposition.

Mother's Day is just around the corner, millions of people in this nation will write a card, buy flowers, make reservations, buy cheap perfume, make dinner or spend a quiet afternoon with their Mom. They will remind their mothers of how much love is gathered and garnered, collected and shared for a woman who has done so much for their lives. There will be a demonstration of respect, reverence and reserve for this female and stories told about how wonderful she is. Some will recount of the bravery, dedication, energy, or direction each mother had demonstrated in the life of her children. She will be respected as a unique and one of a kind person, one of a kind woman one of a kind female.

But after the Hallmark cards are delivered, the florist has brought the bouquets, the restaurant bill has been paid, according to those who hate women, who still consider them chattel, who quote verse and scripture denying women any real rights, the Republican/Baggers who use religion to hate and the Constitution as a weapon, and their own male insecurities as reason will once again pursue their policy of separate but not equal. They will pursue the low road of not granting women access to health care, family planning and a lack of respect for women to have power over their own reproduction rights.

We all have mothers, we all know sisters, aunts, nieces and girls. We all work with, live next to, share secrets, laugh and cry with women. And suddenly there is a hue and cry from the Republican/Baggers that women are not smart enough to understand their bodies, not smart enough to know what really causes rape, and not smart enough to make any choice that a man first has agreed to.

Is this the way we should celebrate Mother's Day 2011? If not maybe its time to fight back hard and fast and say enough is quite enough so our mothers really see how much we love them.