Wasserman Schultz’s GOP ‘anti-women’ charge gets angry reaction from female Florida Republicans
DNC chair and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Pembroke Pines, called the GOP’s agenda “anti-women” and “a war on women” yesterday. Her comments came in response to recent efforts by the GOP to defund Planned Parenthood and to end Title X funding for clinics that perform abortions.
“It’s just so hard for me to grasp how they could be so anti-women as they are,” Wasserman Schultz told the media at a press event, according to U.S. News & World Report.
Most recently, the GOP introduced a bill that would ban the use of federal funds for medical training that includes abortion procedures. While the intent of the law is to limit abortions, the law would also effectively outlaw federal funding for training in basic gynecological procedures, as well.
Florida Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Miami, and Sandy Adams, R-Orlando, have now joined a group of GOP congresswoman in condemning the DNC chair’s statement.
According to the St. Petersburg Times:
“„“Debbie’s accusations are baseless and inaccurate,” read a statement released by the House Republican Conference. “Republican women fight every day for the women who can’t start a business because of burdensome taxes and regulations, for the women who worry that we are capping their children’s future and trading it to China in exchange for cheap loans, for the women who deserve to make their own health care choices, and for this year’s young women graduates who are entering a job market stagnated by Washington-driven uncertainty.”
Wasserman Schultz is not the only Florida politician that has called recent anti-reproductive rights legislation a “war on women.” During the past state legislative session, state Rep. Elaine Schwartz, D-Hollywood, said that the long list of anti-abortion bills considered this year was part of the GOP-led legislature’s “war against women.” According to Schwartz, the legislature’s aim was “to make sure that women stay pregnant and barefoot in the kitchen.”
