Women see an Equal
Rights Amendment as a means to stop legislative, legal and economic
discrimination on the basis of gender, improve earnings, and increase quality of
life
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – The Asheville Chapter of the National
Organization for Women earlier this week announced a “Bitter Pill Rally” Saturday, July 26,
in response to recent Supreme Court decisions limiting women’s rights. Leaders
cite the pressing need to direct the attention of North Carolina legislators to
the immediate improvement of women’s rights at the state and national levels.
The “Bitter Pill Rally” is 7 p.m. Saturday, July 26, at Vance Memorial.
Speakers will focus on an Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution
to stop codified legislative, legal, and economic discrimination on the basis
of gender.
The announcement comes within days of the Supreme Court landmark
cases of McCullen v. Coakley
and Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby.
The former ruling decreases the buffer zones between violent protesters and women
exercising their right to safe, legal abortion, and the latter upholding
corporation’s rights to make decisions about women’s private health care,
including contraception. Under the Hobby Lobby ruling, corporations are granted
rights as persons – rights not currently guaranteed to women themselves.
The rulings are a “Bitter Pill” for women to swallow both in
western North Carolina and across the nation.
Today, women constitute more than half the U.S. work force
and 52 percent of registered voters. One in three women also live and raise
their families or retire in abject poverty, reported National Public Radio. In
western North Carolina, like the state, 59 percent of women aged 16 and older
are either employed or looking for work, according to recent figures from the
Institute of Women’s Policy Research. The report for Asheville-Buncombe and
Madison counties states that 73 percent of all women with dependent children
work, and 25 percent of women in the area are single heads of households with
dependent children.
Women in Buncombe and Madison counties earned only 85 cents
for every dollar earned by men in 2012, the most recent year for which figures
are available.
“That 15 percent difference would go a long way toward
creating opportunities and sustainability for women and girls,” says Debbie
Metcalf, president of Asheville NOW.
Women Are Not Equal
Citizens
The decision from the all-male majority, all-female
dissenting Supreme Court is a blatant illustration of the reality that women
are not equal citizens in the United States, say Asheville NOW women’s rights
leaders.
“We have to ask who it serves to create circumstances
intended to economically disenfranchise women during mid-career by limiting
access to health care, including contraception,” Metcalf says.
“The Supreme Court’s
decision increases the financial burden of health care on working women
everywhere. As a working woman, I am aware we already pay 68 percent more in
out of pocket costs than men for our health care,” Metcalf says.
“The court’s ruling will not have the same affect on men’s
reproductive health care, as coverage will continue for vasectomies and
Viagra,” she notes.
North Carolina’s Anti-Woman
Legislation
In 2013, the state’s openly anti-woman General Assembly
packed inflammatory legislation into a motorcycle traffic bill, SB 353, which
was signed into law July 29, 2013, in an attempt to legally erode women’s right
to bodily autonomy when it comes to reproductive health. Opponents of the
measure suggest state legislators have effectively turned back the clock on
reproductive rights to pre-1963.
“Contraception is vital to a healthy family,” says Lorrie
Cummings, a gynecologist, Asheville NOW officer, and former owner of FemCare. The
Asheville women’s health center recently closed its doors amidst unwarranted political
controversy covered by regional media syndicates and the national MSNBC Rachel
Maddow Show.
“It’s a 21st century family issue which should be
as important to men today as it is to women,” Cummings says.
Economic Impact on
Working Women, Families
When contraception is not affordable or available to working
women, it negatively impacts the family’s income for years. It also increases
the likelihood that children and women over the age of 65 live in poverty, says
Cummings.
Studies show women are more likely than men to cut back on
employment when they are parents.
“Derailment of earning potential and a lack of adequate
health coverage significantly and directly affect women in the present,
increasing stress and economic difficulties,” says Cummings.
Therefore, the question of women’s health care, including
contraception, is a human rights issue which affects each member of the family
– not only women, she says.
Currently, the least expensive birth control alternative for
women is about $300 per year for a generic pill, compared with about $1,000 out
of pocket to receive newer, better options.
“Until women have the
same level of control over their reproductive lives as men do, we are not fully
American citizens,” Cummings says.
The “Bitter Pill
Rally” of the Asheville Chapter of the National Organization for Women will be
7 p.m. Saturday, July 26, at Vance Memorial. For more information, email ashevillenow@live.com.
