A Review: How Would Rick Perry as President Affect Women Nation-wide?

Rachel Farris, well-known democrat and social media expert, writes her opinion about what America will be like for women if Rick Perry is elected to presidency in a humorous and scathing article on her popular blog, Mean Rachel. Farris uses examples of legislation supported by Perry within Texas and takes a guess at what this might look like on a national level, citing such controversial issues as Perry’s stance on contraception; the recent House Bill 15 which now requires women requesting an abortion to first have an ultrasound performed in which the doctor is required to show the image of the baby to the woman and require her to listen to the baby’s heartbeat; cuts to funding in women’s health and education, and more. Farris forcefully presents her arguments as to why a Rick Perry presidency would be detrimental to women. She is convincing and yet still manages to introduce elements of the humorous throughout, making the article an enjoyable read, I think regardless of political stance.

One of the issues mentioned by Farris is the reductions in women’s healthcare funds. As her article is short and to the point, I was interested to research the exact legislation Farris referred to. The results I found were shocking: recent laws have cut the funding for family planning clinics by nearly two-thirds! According to a recent NPR article this is a devastating blow to the underprivileged woman of Texas. "That particular funding was used obviously for birth control, but also pap smears, breast cancer screening, for diabetes, thyroid disorders, anemia [and] high cholesterol," states Dr. Celia Neavel of the People’s Community Clinic in East Austin.

When explaining House Bill 15, Farris cites an article explaining the fact that in many cases the fetus cannot be seen during the early stages of pregnancy without a transvaginal sonogram, an invasive procedure. I am curious as to how the Texas Congress could even pass a bill that makes an invasive procedure mandatory for a woman making a choice to get an abortion during early pregnancy? Furthermore, if the funding for contraceptives is being reduced, how are underprivileged women who are not able to afford more children, able to prevent situations in which they feel an abortion is necessary? Perry argues for abstinence but in a state that ranks third in teen pregnancies, our abstinence education programs simply don’t seem to be doing the trick. It seems to me that if the governor wishes to prevent abortions from taking place, finances should be invested into continued women’s healthcare and education, not taken away from it.