GOP's Culture War against Women.....What is going on here?

Democrats are in full cry against what they call a “war on women” waged by Republicans. At first blush, it comes across as gross exaggeration, Democrats pulling out all the stops in a highly charged election year.Of course, the GOP is aware that women vote. And the fact is there are women voters who oppose abortion and health insurance coverage of contraception. These women would gouge their own eyes than give a dime to Planned Parenthood of America.

And the GOP will do anything to get these women to the polls come November. Even if it means ratcheting up the rhetoric on the campaign trail.But here’s the frightening thing: There’s genuine substance behind the rhetoric. Federal laws have accommodated religious beliefs of doctors and nurses at the expense of individual legal rights to abortion, for example. And while that may be understandable in a society that respects religious differences, state legislatures have acted as if this were a matter of an official state religion, too. Suddenly, it’s not just about abortion

A woman’s ability to obtain birth control pills, breast cancer screenings and pap smears is at risk. Barefoot and pregnant? That’s not even the half of it. There are women who will die in this war.It’s a nationwide phenomenon: States are proposing and passing laws that make ideological points at the expense of women’s health. The Guttmacher Institute, a nonpartisan health think tank, estimates 430 abortion restrictions have been introduced by state legislatures this year. The barrage of artillery coming from the right is hitting its mark and changing the way we talk about women’s health issues.

Who would have thought that, in 2012, a women’s right to contraception would be up for discussion? Or that a woman expressing her views on the topic would be taunted as a “prostitute” and “slut”?

Up in Atlanta last week, female legislators, all Democrats, walked out of their chamber after the Republican majority voted to prohibit state employees from using state health benefits to pay for abortions and to deny employees of private religious institutions the right to demand insurance policies pay for contraceptives.“They never had a problem with it, but here come the right-wing shock troops, marching, marching, marching,” Nan Orrock, one of the Georgia lawmakers who walked out, told her local TV station. “And women are on the bull’s-eye target.

CONGRESSMAN DEAL LIKES TO GIVE HIMSELF A LEG-UP IN THE WORKPLACE WHILE KEEPING THE GLASS CEILING INTACT

Presser from the Barnes Campaign

When it comes to the workplace, Congressman Deal knows all about how to make an office environment comfortable. For instance, in his Congressional office, Deal voted at least six times to increase his salary to the tune of $21,000 and he used office time and resources for personal gain. So it comes as a shock that Congressman Deal wouldn't want to afford women the same workplace standards and perks.

One of Deal's first acts in Congress was to vote against the Family Medical Leave Act which enables employees to take unpaid leave for major family events such as the birth or adoption of a child or the care of a seriously ill loved one.

Then in 2009, Congressman Deal voted against the landmark equal pay legislation, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which ensures that victims of pay discrimination can challenge unequal pay. This was not the first time Deal voted against equal pay for men and women in the workplace - he voted against it at least three other times.

Click here to read more about Congressman Deal's votes against women in the workplace.

"Congressman Deal loves a cushy gig; in fact, if he hadn't been run out of Washington D.C. by the Congressional Ethics Committee, he probably would have stayed up there a little longer and voted to increase his salary a few more times," spokeswoman Anna Ruth Williams said.

"Unfortunately for Georgia's working women, Congressman Deal doesn't want them to have a cushy gig like his, much less equal protection and rights under the law. Georgia's professional women have worked too hard and come too far to let someone like Congressman Deal be the CEO of this state."

Unlike his opponent, Roy Barnes has worked to provide a level playing field and create opportunities for women in Georgia. As governor, he provided incentives for businesses who created on-site child care centers and he created the Mentor Protege Program to help minority and women-owned small businesses. Under his leadership, Georgia moved from 48th to 19th in the ranking of states with women in leadership roles.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, women comprise roughly half of the workforce, yet men take home 20 percent more than women do based on median weekly earnings.