War on women
[1][2][3][4] Prominent Democrats such as Nancy Pelosi[5] and Barbara Boxer,[6] as well as feminists, have used the phrase to criticize proponents of these laws as trying to force their social views on women through legislation.
[19][20] The term is often used to describe opposition to the contraceptive mandate in Obamacare and policies to defund women's health organizations that perform abortions, such as Planned Parenthood.
The concept again gained attention in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, when Republican nominee Donald Trump drew notice for a history of inflammatory statements and actions toward women.
[31][32][33] Republicans have tried to turn the phrase against Democrats by using it to argue hypocrisy for not critiquing sex scandals of members within their party who have cheated, sexted, and harassed women, and for not supporting bills to combat sex-selective abortion.
[43] The same year, Sylvia Federici's Caliban and the Witch used "war on women" as a framework for analysis of the restructuring of gender relations in early modern Europe.
On January 4, 2011, the day after Congress convened, Kaili Joy Gray of the liberal Daily Kos wrote an opinion piece titled "The Coming War on Women".
[47] In February 2011, an AlterNet article by Sarah Seltzer and Lauren Kelley entitled "9 New laws in the GOP's War on Women" began to document state-level legislation restricting abortion access and rights.
[53][54] In June 2011, Charmaine Yoest and Denise M. Burke of Americans United, acknowledged the expression in an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal, writing that "Indiana is being threatened with the loss of federal funding for health care and being held up to scorn as having 'declared war on women.
[63] The legislation, signed by Governor Bob McDonnell, would require that the provider of an abortion make a copy of the fetal image and include it in the file of the patient.
[65] Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett drew criticism when he said of his state's new mandatory transvaginal ultrasound law that "You can't make anybody watch, okay?
"[66] In June 2013, Representative Trent Franks of Arizona, passed a national bill in the House Judiciary Committee that would ban abortions after the 20th week of pregnancy.
[84] In 2011, voters in Mississippi rejected Initiative 26, a measure that would have declared that human life begins at fertilization, which had drawn support from conservative Republicans and Democrats.
[90] Several state legislatures have passed or are considering legislation to prevent parents from suing doctors who fail to warn them of fetal problems, which are sometimes known as wrongful birth lawsuits.
[91][92][93] A Kansas bill passed March 2012 requires doctors to warn women seeking abortions that they are linked to breast cancer,[94] a claim that has been refuted by the medical community.
[95] In April 2012, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker signed into law a bill requiring doctors who prescribe the medical abortion pill to have three meetings with patients or be subject to felony charges.
[15][16] In February 2012, Republican Congressman Darrell Issa convened an all-male panel addressing religious freedom and contraceptive mandates for health insurers.
Later that month, American conservative talk-show host Rush Limbaugh controversially called Sandra Fluke a "slut" and "prostitute" and continued in similar fashion for the next two days.
[102] Foster Friess, the billionaire supporting the candidacy of Rick Santorum, suggested in February 2012 that women put aspirin between their knees as a form of contraception.
"[104] Nancy Pelosi circulated a petition and asked that Republicans in the House of Representatives disavow the comments by Friess and Limbaugh, which she called "vicious and inappropriate".
[112] Four days later, Komen's Board of Directors reversed the decision and announced that it would amend the policy to "make clear that disqualifying investigations must be criminal and conclusive in nature and not political".
[135] Senator Saxby Chambliss of Georgia was criticized for saying that part of the cause of the sexual assault was young officers' "hormone level created by nature".
[142][143] In April 2012, Governor Scott Walker's repeal of Wisconsin's Equal Pay Enforcement Act was described by opponents as furthering the "war on women", which became a big issue in his recall election.
[152] Though it could be theorized that this growing gender gap can be attributed to an increasing female support due to the inclusion of women's issues in Obama's campaign, this is in fact incorrect.
[156] Udall ran a number of TV ads highlighting his abortion stance,[157] which critics said was a negative campaign that overplayed the "war on women" issue.
Political analysts have interpreted the 2016 Hillary Clinton presidential campaign as appealing to a female constituency, and have used the phrase "war on women" to describe Republican opposition.
[158][165][166][167] Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina said "If Hillary Clinton were to face a female nominee, there are a whole set of things that she won't be able to talk about.
"[168] Donald Trump, a Republican candidate for the 2016 Presidency attended a Fox News debate in August 2015, where Megyn Kelly asked him about how he would respond to a Hillary Clinton campaign saying that he was waging a "war on women".
Noting that many of the targets are not on upcoming ballots, Franke-Ruta continued by saying the Republican Party "is going to need its own pro-active framework for thinking about what is happening in America and why women have been drawn to Democrats in numbers that matter in key elections.
[187] David Weigel called for "a moment of silence" in his article entitled "The 'War on Women' Is Over: The life cycle of a political talking point, from birth to adolescence to death."
"[188] Feminist Camille Paglia has called the term "war on women" a "tired cliché that is as substance-less as a druggy mirage but that the inept GOP has never been able to counter.
