UrbanBaby

05.21.08, 16:21 PM General Topics
13 replies

As First Lady and a US senator, Clinton has built her reputation fighting for women's rights. A comprehensive list of Clinton's pro-choice proposals would take pages, so here are a few of the highlights: As First Lady, she helped pass the Family and Medical Leave Act, which requires employers to provide unpaid leave to care for newborn babies or family members, and helped found the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancies, which set and achieved a goal of reducing teen pregnancies by one third. As senator, Clinton led the fight, in a hostile Republican-dominated Congress, to make emergency contraception available over the counter. She led the battle against the confirmation of anti-choice Supreme Court nominees John Roberts and Samuel Alito, arguing in Alito's case that the nominee would "roll back decades of progress" for women. She led the fight in the Senate to get rid of the global gag rule, which prohibits US funding for overseas groups that use funding from other sources to provide abortions or abortion counseling, and has vowed to devote her "very first days in office" to overturning that decision. [ Reply | Watch | Flag ]
General Topics 05.21.08, 04:21 PM Flag

Dear UrbanBaby community,

Thank you so much for being a valued member of the UrbanBaby community. We wanted to inform you that we are shutting down the site on July 6th. We are grateful for your participation and support that has helped make UrbanBaby such an important resource to parents for many years.

If you have any questions or concerns, you can email us at urbanbaby-support@cbsinteractive.com.

Thanks so much,

UrbanBaby Support

Currently, women make just 77 cents for every dollar earned by men. To help address this inequity, Clinton sponsored the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would help prevent pay discrimination against women and give women tools to fight for pay equity. She cosponsored legislation to add the Equal Rights Amendment to the US constitution. And she has been a strong proponent of real sex education, sponsoring legislation (along with Obama) that would replace failed "abstinence-only" sex ed with comprehensive, medically accurate curricula. [ Reply | More

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General Topics 05.21.08, 04:22 PM Flag

a statement Obama made in Iowa that gives me, as a pro-choice voter, cause for concern. The statement was in response to a man who wanted to know what Obama would do to protect the "thousands of innocent, sweet babies [that] are being killed every day through what we call abortion." Obama: I think that the American people struggle with two principles: There’s the principle that a fetus is not just an appendage, it’s potential life. I think people recognize that there’s a moral element to that They also believe that women should have some control over their bodies and themselves and there is a privacy element to making those decisions. [ Reply | More

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General Topics 05.21.08, 04:23 PM Flag

Yes, some control--a position that's consistent with his statement ion the Senate floor, in response to a question about whether teenagers should have the right to get abortions, that the choice to abort or not "generally is one that a woman should make." Back in Iowa, and still in response to the innocent, sweet babies question, Obama continues: One area where I think we should have significant agreement is on the idea of reducing unwanted pregnancies because if we can reduce unwanted pregnancies, then it’s much less likely that people resort to abortion. The way to do that is to encourage young people and older people, people of child-bearing years, to act responsibly. Part of acting responsibly – I’ve got two daughters – part of my job as a parent is to communicate to them that sex isn’t casual and that it’s something that they should really think about and not think is just a game. I’m all for \education for our young people, encouraging abstinence until marriage, but I also believe that young people do things regardless of what their parents tell them to do and I don’t want my daughters ending up in really difficult situations because I didn’t communicate to them, how to protect themselves if they make a mistake. [ Reply | More

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General Topics 05.21.08, 04:24 PM Flag

Yes, you may say, but Obama clearly supports comprehensive sex education and the right to choose--the fact that he hedges on those positions and couches his response in right-wing rhetoric when responding to a right-wing questioner shouldn't matter. Here's why it does: 1) Endorsing abstinence-only education in public schools--even as part of a larger strategy in which the government encourages parents, and adults without kids, to take responsibility--is endorsing a failed system that has done nothing to reduce the teen pregnancy rate or the rate of STDs and abortions. 2) Ninety-five percent all Americans have had sex by the time they get married. Isn't it time for the next Democratic president to acknowledge that instead of embracing the failed model of "abstinence until marriage"? 3) Rhetoric is important. The government, under Bush, already has an official policy encouraging "people of child-bearing years to act responsibly"--it's called adult abstinence until marriage, and the federal government is spending millions of dollars a year to promote it. If Obama doesn't support the policy, he shouldn't talk about unmarried adults "acting responsibly." Yes, Clinton did call abortion, "in some cases," a "tragedy." But assuming Obama is the frontrunner now, I think all thinking Democrats should be holding his feet to the fire for hemming and hawing on issues that should be central to any Democratic candidate's platform and message. [ Reply | More

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General Topics 05.21.08, 04:25 PM Flag

oh for Pete's sake, stick with the politics board. She's lost. what's your point? all she's doing now is hurting the party. [ Reply | More

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General Topics 05.21.08, 04:23 PM Flag

somebody asked me earlier why I don't trust Obama to keep abortion legal, based on things he has said. [ Reply | More

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General Topics 05.21.08, 04:24 PM Flag

then stick it in that thread. and just throw in some links, so ppl can look if they want to. you're a screen hog. [ Reply | More

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General Topics 05.21.08, 04:26 PM Flag

oh just use your little scrolly button and get over it. It matters, you can skip it if you want, but it may make a big difference in your life or your daughter's some day. There's plenty of stuff on here I don't care about, I don't whine about those posts constantly. [ Reply | More

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General Topics 05.21.08, 04:28 PM Flag

lol, she makes a good point here [ Reply | More

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General Topics 05.21.08, 04:41 PM Flag

go sell crazy somewhere else. [ Reply | More

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General Topics 05.21.08, 04:39 PM Flag

COLLAPSE [ Reply | More

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General Topics 05.21.08, 04:24 PM Flag

please go to the politics board!!!!!!!!!!!! [ Reply | More

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General Topics 05.21.08, 04:26 PM Flag

She was First Lady, she didn't PASS anything, she had ZERO power and her claim of experience is bullshit. [ Reply | More

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General Topics 05.21.08, 04:43 PM Flag