Kathleen Parker: Wrong

Occasionally I come across a piece by someone that brings to mind one of the more prominent words from a 2009 single by Depeche Mode, the video of which is embedded above.

Such is the case with a column written by Washington Post columnist Kathleen Parker entitled "The silly, selective ‘war on women’".  The part of this column that gave me this reaction comes from the third sentence.

It has long been accepted by the conventionally wise that the Republican Party is waging a “war on women.”

Let’s be clear. The war on women is based on just one thing — abortion rights."

Wrong.  Liberals who criticize conservatives over their perceived "War On Women" point out several policies enacted by Republican lead governments as well as by conservative pundits and commentators.  These policies are not just limited to abortion rights.  Quoting the ACLU:

"The "War on Women" describes the legislative and rhetorical attacks on women and women’s rights taking place across the nation. In includes a wide-range of policy efforts designed to place restrictions on women's health care and erode protections for women and their families. Examples at the state and federal level have included restricting contraception; cutting off funding for Planned Parenthood; state-mandated, medically unnecessary ultrasounds; abortion taxes; abortion waiting periods; forcing women to tell their employers why they want birth control, and prohibiting insurance companies from including abortion coverage in their policies."

Among the stories listed when you do a search for the tag "War On Women" on the Daily Kos are stories about Personhood Legislation, Contraceptives and Equal Pay, and proposals to sterilize women on Medicare.  A search for the keyword "War On Women" on The Huffington Post brings up stories about the disparity between male and female speakers at the recent CPAC conference, Mike Huckabee's Uncle Sugar comment, and a commentary about the Paycheck Fairness Act.  Finally a Wikipedia article about the "War On Women" includes subheadings dealing with reproductive rights, violence against women, financial assistance, and workplace and pay discrimination.

Saying that when liberals gripe about the Republican Party's "War On Women" that they only gripe about things having to do with abortion rights is not only intellectually dishonest, it's simply wrong.  To say that the "War On Women" is only about abortion rights seeks to delegitimize criticism of policies being enacted by our government, as well as the gender equality movement in general.  The use of the phrase "silly, selective" is fitting because conservatives would rather dismiss any criticism or any perceived criticism rather than dealing with criticism in an intellectually honest and fair fashion,