From the President of Planned Parenthood
Yesterday morning, on my way back from the high of the Democratic National Convention, I learned that Sen. John McCain chose Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential pick.
What might have been encouraging news for women was just the opposite — somehow McCain had managed to find a woman running mate even more conservative than he is on women’s rights.
It was heartbreaking news, especially on the heels of such an inspiring week. Right now there is so much shameless rhetoric from the Republicans about breaking the glass ceiling, especially from McCain and his running mate. What good does it do to break a glass ceiling with a woman who wants government to
control women’s reproductive health? That isn’t the world I want for my two daughters.
A day later, and I’m still having trouble expressing the depth of my anger about McCain’s choice of a running mate. This shameless pandering to women — with a woman who doesn’t trust other women to make their own decisions about childbearing —
has really got me going.
My dear friends and supporters, the stakes in this election just got unbelievably higher. More than ever before, the November 4 election is the most important vote for women’s rights of my generation. And our actions in the next eight weeks — yours, mine, the Planned Parenthood Action Fund’s — have never been
more critical. Believe me, I don’t say that lightly. It’s time to get to work — and hard.
If you can only do one thing, it should be to tell every woman you meet that McCain and Palin are the most anti-choice, anti-women pair imaginable. Don’t stop at just telling your friends. You can bet that I’ll be telling strangers in the checkout line at the grocery store, the women I see at the gym, parents at my kids’ schools.
Women trust other women to tell them the straight truth — and the straight truth is that McCain and Palin would take us back to a time when women had absolutely no right to decide whether or not to have a child … zero. It’s been widely reported that Palin is against abortion even in the cases of rape and incest!
Cecile Richards, President
Planned Parenthood Action Fund