Women’s rights are on the retreat yet again. Why? | Barbara Ellen

Donald Trump’s ruling making it easier for companies to opt out of providing free birth control highlights the need for vigilance

When modern women are finally fitted with their regulation compulsory chastity belts, dare one dream that they’ll come in a range of pretty colours, delightful materials and snazzy designs? Or would it just be the old-school medieval iron trad models? Hey, little ladies, do you think we’d be allowed to choose?

I muse facetiously because, in the US, President Trump has issued a ruling that makes it far easier for companies and insurers to opt out of providing free birth control to employees on the grounds of religious and moral beliefs, rolling back a key feature of Obamacare. Now that it will become easier to opt out, many more will do so, with the potential to affect 55 million women. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the National Women’s Law Center have announced that they will sue the government over the decision.

The lesson seems to be that it will never be over – there will always be laws that need to be updated and protected

Continue reading... October 08, 2017 at 04:35AM