Editor: I am 63 years old, past the stage of giving birth, and yet Virginia Budget Item 294 gives me pause on the hypocrisy and inequitable treatment to low-income women by Republicans in the House of Delegates.
These House Republicans adamantly and vehemently are against not only abortion but also contraceptives that prevent pregnancy. They are against health-care clinics like Planned Parenthood that provide contraceptives to those who cannot afford the out-of-pocket high cost of birth control.
Does that make any sense to anyone?
This tells me not only do Republicans want to prevent Planned Parenthood from providing alternatives to abortion with preventive measures, but they also want to take this away from those who need it the most:low-income women and teenage girls.
The Republicans even go a step further and will ban those hormonal birth-control pills. I wonder how far they will go before we say “enough is enough”?
Let’s be a voice for those women who are working two jobs trying to make ends meet, trying to make a better life for themselves and their family, for the teenager where birth control will give them a chance for a promising future.
Let’s speak up against Budget Item 294 and let our representatives know it is a step backward on reproductive rights to the most vulnerable in our community. This bill does a disservice to Planned Parenthood in providing full spectrum health care to women.
Let’s be a voice of reason.
Rose Fabia, Arlington