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Rachel Farris

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What a Rick Perry Presidency Would Look Like for Women

Posted: 08/18/11 10:47 AM ET

Rick Perry has been governor of Texas since before I was old enough to vote. As a native Texan born in the millennial age, I put Rick Perry in the same category as a cassette player or an AOL subscription -- something that has seemingly always been around, but has long since lost its purpose. Coming of age as a woman in Rick Perry's Texas is sort of like living in the wild, wild west, like an Annie Ovary of women's health, dodging old men wielding vaginal probes and vaccine mandates. With a governor who has a women's health record that's a bumpy country mile long possibly becoming our next president, what would it mean for women across America? Allow me.



First order of business in the Perry presidency would be the creation of the Department of Interior Contraception, or DIC. DIC would oversee approved contraceptive devices under Perry's watchful eye, the top item on the list being the most widely accepted, reliable option available to God-fearing Americans these days: abstinence. Now, while it's true Texas has the 3rd highest teen birth rate in the country and also true that a 2005 study found teens in Texas were actually having more sex after undergoing an abstinence-only program, Rick Perry still stands by the practice. Why? Not because there are actually any studies backing him up but "from my own personal life," Perry told the Texas Tribune's Evan Smith in an interview earlier this year. Comforting, isn't it? Rather than President Perry making decisions based on studies and figures, the free world will instead hinge on the regularity of his wife's cycles.



But don't take Rick Perry's word for it. Starting in 2012, women (and their partners -- suddenly that cowboy vote doesn't sound so good, does it gentlemen?) will get their very own chance to practice an abstinence-only approach when the recent law that requires health insurance companies to cover birth control will no doubt be rolled back by President Perry.



That brings us to the question of how Perry plans to punish women who don't fall into line with his tried and true abstinence methods. After all, without threat of punishment, I think it's safe to say Perry will probably be the only person in America abstaining from sex. For the sinners, Perry has already started a little pilot program right here in Texas. The state now requires mandatory transvaginal sonograms for women who are 8 to 10 weeks pregnant and seeking abortions. The bill, which Perry declared a piece of "emergency legislation" during the last legislative session, requires the doctor to describe the fetus and play audio of the heartbeat prior to the abortion procedure. President Perry's version of this bill will include an amendment to play Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the U.S.A." during the procedure.



Alas, if all of this has you feeling down, ladies, don't fret. Think of all those cute babies we'll get to have. But in Rick Perry's America, you may want to home school. Texas ranks first in the nation in adults without high school diplomas. The future also doesn't look so bright for all those precious little ones when it comes to health insurance and potential jobs: Texas boasts another first in the nation in the percentage of children without health insurance and, in 2010, Texas tied with Mississippi for the highest percentage of workers employed in minimum-wage jobs. No wonder Governor Perry wants Texas to secede. It'd sure make us look less stupid.



At a speech given to the United for Life group in June, Perry bragged about Texas's recently-passed sonogram law and told attendees, "In Texas we have pursued policies to protect unborn children whenever possible." And you can bet your left Fallopian tube that, if elected, he'll continue to do the same for the unborn children of America. I just hope there's a Plan B pill for what happens when all these children grow up -- because President Perry, just like Governor Perry, certainly doesn't plan to care for them.



After all, where Rick Perry comes from, that's women's work.

 

Follow Rachel Farris on Twitter: www.twitter.com/MeanRachel

Rick Perry has been governor of Texas since before I was old enough to vote. As a native Texan born in the millennial age, I put Rick Perry in the same category as a cassette player or an AOL subscrip...
Rick Perry has been governor of Texas since before I was old enough to vote. As a native Texan born in the millennial age, I put Rick Perry in the same category as a cassette player or an AOL subscrip...
 
 
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08:39 PM on 09/02/2011
This blog doesn't really tell the truth about Texas, kind of true about Perry.

What are people going to do when he is elected?
04:16 PM on 10/05/2011
The best we can. Just pray and try to wait it out same as we did with Bush.
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hornedcog
Tax Tea Now!
12:03 PM on 08/21/2011
Just take your shoes off, put your feet up and don't worry your pretty little head. Suffrage was just a misunderstanding. Rick and his supporters are gonna' take back America!
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boycottrightwingthings
END WAR on women vote Dem 2014!
10:10 AM on 08/19/2011
We need more Progressive women legislators!
12:15 AM on 08/19/2011
Lord, save us from your followers!
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capt hastings
exercise the little grey cells
10:31 PM on 08/18/2011
Wonderful, funny, all too scary - thanks for the heads up Ms. Farris.
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SETexasLib
TryingToBeGood,ButRelyingOnMercy
09:08 PM on 08/18/2011
Where Texas stands on women’s issues. Please read carefully.

Rick will tell you, in Texas all our women are on pedestals

That keeps them very healthy. Fewer young Texas women have health insurance than any other state. Nowadays everyone is going to the doctor for something. Less of our women see a doctor during their first trimester (whatever that is) than any state.

Heck, our women are more efficient than most. Only eight states with more women who can have a baby in less than nine months. The longer it takes, the longer men have to wait to start having fun again. We like'm to take less than 7, 8 months at most.

They have excellent teeth. Only five states had more women who didn’t go to the dentist last year. We discourage'm from going to the doctor too much, especially for unnecessary stuff like Mammograms and pap smears. In 50 states we ranked 40th and 37th respectively in the percentage of ladies getting those. I don’t know what cervical is. But we did pretty well. Only 10 states had more cancers in it than us.

And frugal! Only five states in the country have women who can live on less than in Texas.

44 states have a higher percentage of their females who are registered to vote and 48 states have a higher percentage that votes. We don't encourage women to vote. Someone I ran into the other day said these last two things explained all the rest.
01:40 AM on 08/19/2011
Oh Gawd...... ROFLMAO! F/F and a smiley face for you! You and the blogger are SO right! Fortunately, there are some of us Texas women out there who know exactly where Rick can stick it...........
03:18 AM on 08/19/2011
I bet he sticks it into more than his wife.....

I bet HE thinks he doesn't have to abide by the laws and morals of mere mortals.

I really don't know....but he looks the type.
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Beth Schindler
Fundamentalists worship the same gods--themselves.
01:44 AM on 08/19/2011
Great post! Well done. F&F and you earned my badge for being insightful.
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see-ellen2001
07:49 PM on 08/18/2011
This guy scares me and I'm Canadian!
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patriot23
07:49 PM on 08/18/2011
I agree with his views on abortion but I think the left does have a valid point when they mention the wages in Texas. Yes, more than third of the jobs created have been in Texas, but that factoid doesn't tell the whole story. Texas needs to get its act together but when Roe v. Wade is overturned they will have good anti-abortion laws put in place, which should be supported by people who respect human life.

http://americaspoliticalforum.com/
CognitoErgoSum
CogitoErgoSum was taken when I signed up.
09:04 PM on 08/18/2011
Women's lives are human lives too.

Forcing a woman to carry a fetus to term against her will is barbaric and will only lead to increases in infanticide, child malnutrition, abuse, abandonment and neglect.

The right-wingnutters' views are not about the sanctity of human life, but are about controlling women's bodies and lives. If God guaranteed a right to be born, there would be no such things as miscarriages. Even the framers of the 14th Amendment limited protection to the BORN, not the conceived, because they were not arrogant to presume that authority.
03:19 AM on 08/19/2011
Perry wants to bring back the coat hanger.

THAT will teach those ungodly, sinful hussies to have sex!
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SETexasLib
TryingToBeGood,ButRelyingOnMercy
09:17 PM on 08/18/2011
Ask the innocent who have been executed in Texas under Perry what they think about his repect for human life. On, wait. You can't. They're dead.
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Yorksgal
'Conservative Christian' is a complete oxymoron.
07:43 PM on 08/18/2011
Perry promoting the Evangelical Taliban into every woman's life.
02:21 PM on 08/18/2011
You infer that it is the responsibility of the president of the US to take care of children and indeed the responsibility of a governor. Since when? I thought it was the parents and extended family? Maybe that's whats wrong with liberalism, always assuming that everyone should be taken care of by the "man" instead of individual responsibility. Even Hillary wanted the "village" to take care of kids, not the president or governor.
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tweed7t
wear sunscreen and dance
02:40 PM on 08/18/2011
how can you possibly have 1200 posts in a month? you one busy person. 40 post a day for a month?!?!?! a suggestion, take some time off now to take a shower and shave. Try to get a job? Another question for ya. How does it feel to be a zombie?
04:05 PM on 08/18/2011
Well said. It is most definitely the parents and extended family that should be raising a child, along with exterior support from the community. It is NOT the responsibility of government (except public schools). It is a shame so many people keep saying how "one man, one woman", is the "ideal" environment for a child. I agree with you...it takes more than two people!
CognitoErgoSum
CogitoErgoSum was taken when I signed up.
09:07 PM on 08/18/2011
Except that most on the right wing promote a view of "I've got mine and devil take the hindmost." Government is a manifestation of community will and the allocation of community resources, since most families are too geographically dispersed to help with childrearing, unlike when most people were serfs living in villages.
02:14 PM on 08/18/2011
Rick Perry is in some ways the scariest of the religious candidates. I think he has a better shot at winning a general election than Michele Bachmann, and that means evangelicals would have an even greater foot in the food towards creating a theocracy.
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patriot23
07:46 PM on 08/18/2011
This is baseless fear mongering. I am a conservative agnostic and I have no fear of a theocracy if a devout Christian is in office. Isn't Obama supposed to be a devout Christian? Do you see a theocracy? I dislike religion very much but would gladly support Perry, Bachmann, or Cain.
08:12 PM on 08/18/2011
Yeah, it's a little bit of fear mongering, hence my use of the term "scariest". But I don't think it is baseless.

Perry invited the governors of the United States to participate in a prayer rally. He also endorses religion being taught in a science classroom in public schools. Those things make me uncomfortable, so he is scary to me. I don't fear religion as much as I fear religion parading as science, or politics. If you think Perry's faith (or loyalty to other believers) doesn't inform his legislation, then look at his recent HPV vaccine decisions. Ironically I think the religious right pulled him into the correct decision, although for the wrong reasons.

And we are not talking about Obama the liar, we are talking about Perry the zealot.
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french queen13
my beloved is mine and I am his
08:23 PM on 08/18/2011
It's not "devout Christian" that's the problem, it's "reactionary evangelical". The ones whose idea of small government means micro-managing women's lives.
GraceNotes
We live for books.
02:13 PM on 08/18/2011
We may have lost Molly Ivins, but we have Rachel Farris, keeping us apprised of Texas shenanigans.
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capt hastings
exercise the little grey cells
10:32 PM on 08/18/2011
Molly is SOOOO missed.
Almost ironic that Texas is able to produce such humorously thoughtful women.
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Angel R1240
Progressive for REAL change
01:45 PM on 08/18/2011
Well let me say that a Perry Administration would be a disaster for the country but it would worse for women's rights in general. Well I hope that the country is smart enough to not vote for this man or any Republican.
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Sethj8888
When Democrats Fight, They Win. Period.
04:02 PM on 08/18/2011
Maybe this is the "Hope" Obama was telling us about....
nia122
"Truth crushed to the earth will rise again."
06:38 PM on 08/18/2011
Maybe we need to keep informing women of his stances. There are more women in the elecorate than men.
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Angel R1240
Progressive for REAL change
10:51 AM on 08/19/2011
Yeah you are right nia122 I just hope that enough women knows the truth about Perry.
01:19 PM on 08/18/2011
Great article making fun of the sanctity of life.
01:42 PM on 08/18/2011
That means you realize that Perry is overstepping his boundries? He wants smaller government when it comes to paying money, taxes out his own pocket. Yet he wants larger government to enable him to dictate the minutiae of peoples private lives and that may mean we peons may have to withstand the double whammy and pay higher taxes..
02:34 PM on 08/18/2011
What's really worth making fun of is that the majority of 'anti-abortionists sanctity of life' people are heavily in favor of wars and death penalties....
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Sarah Trickey
love, luck and lollipops. Narf!
12:59 PM on 08/18/2011
Great article. Good to know that Perry's legislation in Texas is lock-step with all other republican ideology - showing, yet again, it doesn't really matter which (R) gets voted into office as the outcome is still 'cookie-cutter' in design.
Personally, I am very disturbed by the entire (R) party (tea party included, here), and the fears they ALL seem to have and insist on projecting upon all others. Their little boxes camped along their little element are so boring, overcrowded and just plain sad with darkness. It's shameful.