UPDATE: Why I will NEVER vote for Palin

Remember the controversy I pointed out at the end of this post regarding Sarah Palin and rape kits?

This is what I said then:

"Palin failed to address the fact that sexual assault victims in Wasilla were charged $300 to $1200 apiece for collection of evidence in their cases (i.e. rape kits). NOTE: Palin did not institute this policy; it was in place before her election. However, I am disheartened by the fact that during two terms as mayor she failed to address the policy. Thumbs down to Palin on this one."

Unfortunately, new evidence (i.e. the Wasilla annual budgets) has come to life, proving me wrong. A new article from the Huffington Post explains everything very well, and is even nice enough to provide you with links to Wasilla's budgets so you can do the math for yourself if you happen to be a doubter. Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jacob-alperinsheriff/sarah-palin-instituted-ra_b_125833.html

The gist of the article? The former police chief of Wasilla (the one Palin fired) had included a line item in his budget requests to cover the cost of exams for sexual assault victims. The police chief Palin appointed after firing the previous chief HALVED this budget request in 97-98, and then halved it again in 98-99 (that year he only spent $205 of the $3000 he requested). Palin either (a) had to have known about the change in policy requiring sexual assault victims to pay for their testing kits, because, as mayor, she had to approve the budget, or (b) had to have fallen behind in her mayoral duties, by not thoroughly investigating requested budgets.

Either way, this is disgusting. Again: NO WAY, NO HOW, NO to McCain / Palin!

Why this Feminist Bride Wants NOTHING to do with the McCain / Palin ticket

Disclaimer: Sorry Transatlantic Bride - I found your post so interesting that I decided I'd do one, too. ;)

And what better place to post my complaints about this year's republican ticket's failure to promote the interests of women than here?

Leaving aside the fact that I find this pick INCREDIBLY insulting (I'm sorry, but I don't vote based on the sex of the candidate - my vagina does not have a voting booth hidden inside, thank you very much), neither candidate seems to really be doing much - correction ANYTHING - to help women. For McCain, it's pretty easy to find flaws - his voting record is out their for the world to see. For an inexperienced first terms governor, it's a bit harder. Largely because she hasn't yet told us much of what she stands for.

And now, what you've been waiting for. A (brief) list of things McCain and/or Palin have done, or as the case may be, NOT done, to assist women and girls in the realization of their rights:

• McCain skipped the vote on the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. He later said that had he attended the vote, he would have voted against it because women "need education and training" rather than a bill that guarantees pay equity. [Source: http://tinyurl.com/6gufa3]
  
• McCain has repeatedly opposed comprehensive sex education and supported abstinence-only education. [Source: http://tinyurl.com/6oc6a7] For more info on why this is specifically anti-woman and anti-girls, please see Legal Momentum's recent report "Sex, Lies and Stereotypes: How Abstinence-Only Programs Harm Women and Girls," available at http://tinyurl.com/5e8xjq
• McCain voted to keep the Global Gag Rule, preventing millions of women around the world from receiving access to reproductive health care by denying funding to any organization that even MENTIONS abortion (note: these organizations do not have to perform or refer clients to abortion providers in order to be denied funding).[Boxer Amendment to S.600, vote 83, 4/05/05]
• Voted to de‐fund the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), an organization that provides family‐planning services – not abortion – for the world’s poorest women [Boxer amendment to FY’06‐07 Foreign Relations authorization bill, S.600, 4/5/05]
  
• Declined to help reduce the need for abortion and improve maternal health by opposing effort to require insurance coverage for prescription birth control, improve access to emergency contraception, and provide more women with prenatal health care[Murray motion to waive Budget Act to allow vote on Murray/Reid prevention‐package amendment to “Partial‐Birth” Abortion Ban Act, S.3, 3/11/03.]
  
• McCain has publicly and repeatedly stated that it is his goal to overturn Roe v. Wade
  
• McCain voted to maintain restrictions on access to abortion for women in the military, even if they use their own money [Murray/Snowe amendment to FY’04 National Defense authorization bill, S.1050, 5/22/03]
  
• McCain supported the Federal Abortion Ban, even though the law contains no exceptions for the health of pregnant women [“Partial‐Birth” Abortion Ban Act, H.R.1833, 12/7/95]
  
• McCain voted to restrict funding to Title X's Family Planning Program. [Motion to Invoke Cloture; Family Planning Amendments of 1989, S.110, 9/26/90]
• McCain voted NOT to amend the federal bankruptcy code to prevent people who commit violence against family planning clinics to avoid financial responsibility for their actions by filing bankruptcy [Bankruptcy Reform Act, H.R.2415, 12/7/00; Schumer amendment to Bankruptcy Reform Act, S.256, 3/8/05]
  
• McCain voted against an amendment that protected Medicaid funding (funding that is used to provide thousands of low-income women and girls with reproductive and other health services) from being cut [H.J.R. 2, Vote #21, 1/23/03]]
• McCain voted against requiring health insurance carriers to cover the cost of contraception. [Murray Amendment, S.Amdt 258 to S. 3, vote 45, 3/11/03]
• McCain opposed legislation that required that abstinence only education curricula be medically-accurate and scientifically-based. [Lautenberg/Menendez Teen Pregnancy Prevention Amendment, S.Amdt. 4689 to S. 403, vote 214, 7/25/06]
• McCain voted against the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE), which established criminal and civil penalties for those who use force, threat of force, or physical obstruction to interfere with access to reproductive‐health facilities [Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, S.636, 5/12/94].
• Sarah Palin opposes abortion in all circumstances, save where the woman's life is in danger. She opposes abortion even in cases of danger to a woman's health, and in cases of rape or incest. [Source: http://tinyurl.com/5uptw8]
• Palin failed to address the fact that sexual assault victims in Wasilla were charged $300 to $1200 apiece for collection of evidence in their cases (i.e. rape kits). NOTE: Palin did not institute this policy; it was in place before her election. However, I am disheartened by the fact that during two terms as mayor she failed to address the policy. Thumbs down to Palin on this one.

If you'd like more information on McCain's anti-woman policies, you can read this fact sheet. It covers his vote on all things reproductive rights related (NOT just abortion-related) http://www.prochoiceamerica.org/assets/files/mccain_fact_sheet.pdf

Got something you think I should add to the wall o' shame? Leave a note and I'll do my best to fit it in. And stay tuned for the next episode of Confessions, where I reveal precisely how I think the Democratic ticket IS addressing women's issues.