Mother¥€%#

There has been a good deal of news coverage over the past week about mothers. Some ignorant Democratic talking head commented that Ann Romney had no standing to discuss economic issues because she was a stay at home mom and never worked a day in her life. As a man it was at least good news that the comment was made by a woman. Is being a stay at home mom work? It is a stupid question. If your children go to day care you pay someone to teach them, play with them, feed them, and do all the other things a stay at home mom would do with them. If that is work then their mother staying home with them would be work. It doesn't bring in a paycheck, but that doesn't mean it is not a job. I consider myself lucky. I'm 58 years old and on Tuesday I got to go out to supper with my two brothers and our 82 year old mother to celebrate her birthday. She was a stay at home mom until I was in junior high school. Was taking care of three boys a job? I remember some of the stunts we used to pull and I know we made her work. It would have been easier for her to send us to day care but no amount of money could get anyone to watch us for long.

Men, especially Republican men have had plenty of stupid things to say about women this year. They hold Congressional hearings on contraception and ask questions to an all male panel. Male contraceptive practices are pretty limited and in my mind are limited to condoms, abstenience and masturbation. Women are the ones who pay the price if an unintended pregnancy takes place and seem to bear the responsibility for contraception in most cases. It seems to make sense to me that if insurance plans are going to cover erectile dysfunction medications for men they should provide birth control options for women.

It seems to me that a good deal of this goes back to the argument so many fundamentally religious folks have over when does life begin. They want to prevent all abortions so they argue that life begins at conception. It makes you wonder how many of these well intentioned couples are using birth control pills or IUD's for birth control. Neither of those methods prevents the fertilization of an egg, which by definition of these fundamentalists is a life, it prevents implantation in the womb. Are these women serial killers? I think not. While I personally, if I was a woman, do not think I could have an abortion I do support women's right to choose. People make choices every day that I do not agree with, that does not mean I should support legislation that takes away their ability to choose. It is odd to listen to some of the rhetoric being used. Men are voting to require women to have a transvaginal ultrasound test before being allowed to have an abortion. An invasive test inserting an ultrasound probe into a woman's vagina. The same men will then protest the use of a full body scanner at airports as too invasive. Where is common sense?

The issues regarding abortion, contraception and womens work should be discussed and determined by women. They need to have a full voice in our society. They are about 50% of the population and should hold the same percentage of power in the government. It is time that rule by old white men ends. It is clear from looking at the results that we are not doing a very good job. Women need to receive equal pay for equal work and take their place with an equal share of responsibility for our governance.