Where are all the Vagina Warriors?

The other day, as I was waiting for a much needed massage, I sat perusing through the book, Vagina Warriors, which is "a unique collaboration between playwright/activist/V-Day founder Eve Ensler, creator of the international hit The Vagina Monologues, and world-renowned photographer Joyce Tenneson." This book contains photographs and sentiments of the most amazing women who are Vagina Warriors. You might ask, "What is a Vagina Warrior?" A Vagina Warriors is a vagina friendly person of any gender identification who embodies the spirit of equality and empowerment, and assists in the battle to end violence against women.  But over the past couple of weeks, it seems that all the Vagina Warriors have disappeared and what we are left with are right-wing politicians (mostly white men) who are deciding the fate of women's rights. It feels like we have moved backward in time about 100 years and women's rights are in jeopardy.  For instance:

In Kansas, there's an anti-abortion bill being presented which makes numerous changes to Kansas' state law by restricting abortions and it also allows for physicians who oppose abortions to lie to their patients.  "Buried in a sweeping anti-abortion bill is a provision that would immunize a doctor who discovers that a baby will be born with a devastating condition and deliberately withholds that information from the patient."  If this bill passes and you are a pregnant woman in Kansas and are unfortunate enough to have a physician who opposes abortion, this physician can intentionally not fully disclose the results of your amnio, blood tests, ultrasound, or any other prenatal tests which indicates that your child might be born with some fatal disease.  You give birth to this child and you have to recourse to sue the physician for malpractice. Sad to say, Kansas is not the only state making these types of changes. Oklahoma recently passed a similar law and the Arizona legislature is considering a similar bill. While we all might not agree on abortion, I think we can all agree that any decision should be the hands of the woman and her family and not in the hands of politicians.

Let's talk about Texas and the Texas Abortion Law which requires a woman to make at least 2 visits to a clinic before she can have an abortion.  The first visit is to have a transvaginal ultrasound and then the patient has to wait 24 hours before going back to have the procedure.  They've called it "The Women's Right to Know Act," which requires physicians "to give women seeking abortions state-mandated information about medical risks, adoption alternatives, and developmental stages of the fetus." Yet another example of right-wing conservatives attempt to circumvent a woman's right to choose by forcing her to go through this unnecessary procedure before terminating her pregnancy.  I suppose they think if the woman sees and hears the fetus, it'll change her mind about the termination. Can you imagine a rape victim forced to go through this invasive procedure? A similar law was passed recently in Virginia.  If you haven't yet seen Gary Trudeau's Doonesbury comic strip's six-day series on this ridiculous law, please check it out.  It's brilliant!  (Start with the strip on March 12, 2012 and then the subsequent 5 days.) 

Of course we can always take issue on the fight in Washington, DC regarding President Obama's policy requiring contraception coverage in employer-provided insurance plans. The fact that religious institutions are opposed to this policy is irrelevant. This not about religion - it's about women's health.  And these religious institutions should also realize that not everyone who works for their organizations adhere to their antiquated beliefs. Again, these opponents are conservative white men, which led President Obama to compromise with these zealots. <sigh>  The Daily Show had two great segments on this argument:  The Vagina Ideologues and The Vagina Ideologues - Sean Hannity's Holy Sausage Fest.  Thank you, Jon Stewart!

So where are all the Vagina Warriors??  It's time for women to voice their opinions on the laws being passed which limit their rights. Time to speak up and tell your legislature that they need to stay out of our personal lives. Again, regardless on your stance on these issues, the right wing conservatives needs to stay out of our uteri.  And will the last woman leaving Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Virginia and Arizona, please turn out the lights. I'd hate to run up an electric bill.