Monday, Apr. 26, 2004
Karen Hughes is a bitch, posted at 4:32 p.m.
Epiphany in Baltimore has moved to epiphanyinbaltimore.blogspot.com So, I was invited this weekend to attend the Women's Rights March in DC. My grandparents were up, and I had to work, so I didn't go, although I would have. The whole pro-choice thing is pretty important to me, despite my not being a woman. I had a friend in college who had an abortion, and she was pretty broken up about it, but what struck me most is what could have happened if she couldn't have one: something in a back alley somewhere. I don't particularly like the thought of abortion, but I think it's important that it stays safe, legal, and rare.I also understand that it's a complex issue, and do understand someone being against abortion. That's completely fine with me. Bumper stickers that say "Choose Life" don't bug me, either, as they're just trying to be persuasive about what the choice should be. It's when people try to put their own moral views on what another person does with her body that makes me mad. I just think it's so clear that the issue is a subjective, individual issue, and instituting a freedom of choice is the only way the government should be involved.
This is why what I read Karen Hughes as saying over the weekend made me so angry:
Karen Hughes, an adviser to President Bush, appeared on CNN today to provide a counterpoint to the anti-Bush sentiment on the Mall. She praised the president on his "very strong record for women," saying he has employed more women in senior-level staff positions than any other presidential administration.
She also said that abortion-rights activists were moving against what she said was popular momentum, particularly since the terrorist attacks of 2001, in favor of anti-abortion policies.
"I think that after September 11, the American people are valuing life more and we need policies to value the dignity and worth of every life," she said. "President Bush has worked to say, let's be reasonable, let's work to value life, let's reduce the number of abortions, let's increase adoptions. And I think those are the kinds of policies the American people can support, particularly at a time when we're facing an enemy and, really, the fundamental issue between us and the terror network we fight is that we value every life."
So, she's equating pro-choice people with terrorists? Does playing politics with 9/11 get any more bald-faced than this? I find the comment grotesque in every regard.
First of all, does any pro-choice person not want to reduce the number of abortions? Does any pro-choice person not want to increase adoptions? Hughes then, obscenely, compares people in favor of freedom of choice to terrorists that don't value human life. I can't believe she's not being called on it.