On the Issues...
Pro-Choice
Like my late aunt, Sue Shear, I will fight for a woman’s right to choose in Jefferson City. The right to privacy found by the Supreme Court over 30 years ago must not be held hostage by the extreme right-wing of this country. Because the religious right has not been able to fully overturn Roe v. Wade, it has attacked reproductive freedoms from other angles in an attempt to chip away at the Court’s 1973 decision. Missouri must create a reproductive health policy that gives women the tools necessary to take responsibility for themselves. I will fight for such a policy through the following initiatives:
Promoting Comprehensive Sex Education
No matter where one stands in the choice debate, everyone can agree that we need to reduce the number of unplanned pregnancies. Survey after survey shows that a strong “abstinence plus” sexual education curriculum results in positive results, including a reduction in teens’ sexual activity, a decline in teen pregnancy, and an increase in contraception use. With teen pregnancy and STD rates unacceptably high, all Missourians must fight for sexual education programs in our schools that advocates abstinence, while simultaneously teaching adolescents how to be safe should they choose to become sexually active.
Unfortunately, the Republican controlled legislature continues to turn their back on proven statistics when it comes to this issue. HB 1055 calls for public schools to comply with federal abstinence laws. It also outlaws women’s health clinics that perform abortions from offering, sponsoring, or providing materials related to sexual activity or sexually transmitted diseases. This is clearly unacceptable. In the Missouri Legislature, I will fight for a full, “abstinence plus” education for our students.
Easing the Undue Burdens Recently Placed on Women’s Health Clinics
HB 1055, passed by the General Assembly during the 2007 session targets women’s health clinics with unnecessary regulations that will cost these centers too much money to continue operating. Ultimately, clinics providing abortion services may be forced to shut down. This makes having a safe, professionally performed abortion more challenging to obtain due to lack of availability. The result will force some women to seek dangerous “back-alley” abortions that endanger women’s lives and their future ability to conceive children. I will fight to reverse HB1055 and ensure that women’s rights to choose are not restricted by law or by undue regulations affecting the ability of clinics to operate.
Ensuring the Availability of Contraception
Coupled with education, contraception is a powerful tool to prevent unwanted pregnancies. Unfortunately, the teen pregnancy rate is alarmingly high. This is a health concern on many fronts. First, women having an unplanned pregnancy are much more likely to ignore the beginning stages of that pregnancy and, therefore, are unlikely to receive the necessary medical care, resulting in problems at birth such as infant mortality. Second, because of the economic and emotional hardships, unplanned children are more likely to become abused and neglected. Contraceptives, along with education on how to use these family planning tools, must be available to women and men in order to combat the social problems of unplanned pregnancies.
