McCain Takes an “Extreme” Position on Women’s Health
An article in The Boston Globe highlights Senator John McCain’s trivialization of women’s health in last night’s presidential debate. For those of you who missed it, McCain characterized measures to protect women’s health as “extreme.” What’s more, in what can only be interpreted as an attempt to delegitimize and mock the very real concerns of pregnant women, the senator placed air quotes around the word “health.”
“[H]ealth of the mother,” said McCain. “You know that’s been stretched by the pro-abortion movement in America to mean almost anything. That’s, that’s the extreme pro-abortion position. The quote ‘health.’” Throughout his campaign, McCain has struggled to secure the female vote. His actions, however, from the selection of anti-choice Sarah Palin as a running mate to the assertion that the power to make decisions about women’s bodies should rest in the hands of the state, have proved insulting to women everywhere.
“If McCain is going to regret anything from last night’s debate, it just may be his mocking women’s health to a national audience,” Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, said in a statement. “His disregard for women’s health caused a national gasp as McCain let slip the truth about his extreme position on choice – a reality he tends to save for speeches to his far-right base. If women in this country are still undecided, they won’t be after watching last night’s debate.”
By Allison Farer