“There is simply no question where Mike Pence (Trump’s running mate. Ed.) stands when it comes to women’s health and rights.
“As Indiana governor, he signed into law anti-LGBTQ legislation and some of the most invasive and extreme abortion restrictions in the country. He forced the local Scott County Planned Parenthood health center to shut its doors in 2013, leaving the community with nowhere to turn for HIV testing and education. Two years later, the county faced an unprecedented HIV outbreak, which Pence himself deemed an “epidemic.”
“That’s not all. As a House Representative in Congress, Pence was known for what Politico called a “one-man crusade” to prevent patients from getting care at Planned Parenthood anywhere in the country, introducing six separate measures in Congress.
“Donald Trump’s choice of Pence should make it crystal clear what his presidential priorities would be:
• Ending access to safe, legal abortion
• Punishing women who seek abortions and doctors who provide them
• Blocking patients’ access to basic health care at Planned Parenthood health centers
• Rolling back women’s access to reproductive health care, like no-copay birth control
• Denying equal protection to LGBTQ people — in housing, employment, and more
“Dawn Laguens, Executive V-P, Planned Parenthood Action Fund”
(The letter has been edited to exclude request for funds)
Its issues like these that are making me increasingly of the view that America is ungovernable. How can you run a country where people are so divided on moral and social issues. It seems like half of America wants to be like the Netherlands: a progressive, socially liberal state with a strong welfare state. good infrastructure, and an economy that is open to globalisation, but ensures relative wealth equality. The other half wants to be like Poland: an authoritarian, nationalist country with an ethnically and religiously homogeneous population, that takes a hard like on immigrants and refugees, and whose rulers embody the cult of personality. Now both the Netherlands and Poland have their divisions- the former is seeing a rise of far right politics, the latter already has a very right wing government in power and is facing increasing bipartisan polarisation. But overall, neither of these countries are anywhere near as divided as the US.
Which brings me to Planned Parenthood. In the Netherlands, about 80% or so of the country would support it. The vast majority of Dutch support gay marriage, believe in a woman’s right to an abortion within a reasonable regulatory framework, believe in reproductive care, and oppose discrimination against gay and transgender people. In Poland, the opposite is the case- a clear majority oppose gay marriage and support greater restrictions on abortion. But what makes America different is that the country is split 50/50. So any policy implementation will anger about 50% of the electorate.
There are very few realistic solutions to this level of division. Bernie Sanders talks of ‘bringing people together’- a lot easier said than done. Personally, I think proportional representation for Congress would represent people’s views more accurately and end gerrymandering, but in a two-party system, it may not make much difference. A more radical solution would be to split America into two countries, each with clear progressive or conservative majorities. The problem would then be the left behind, those would now face being a permanent minority in their own country. Its also possible that the two countries would be economically worse off separate than together.
Excellent post. I absolutely agree and have often thought that the United States is really two countries, tacked together. Separation would solve a lot of problems. But, on the other hand, it was tried once before in the 1960s at the cost of many thousands of lives. It’s only, essentially disinterested foreigners who see the logic of a peaceful break-up now.