Ted Cruz and Reproductive Rights

Another election Cycle leads to the inevitable bickering of the left and right over women’s reproductive rights. This article quotes presidential hopeful Ted Cruz in a town Hall meeting he held for supporters in the important swing state of Iowa. Ted Cruz addresses the long-standing stigma that the right is generally t old white men who are trying to dictate what women can and cannot do with their bodies. According to senator Cruz the right has never wanted to limit contraceptives but that notion is nothing but propaganda being spewed from the left to demonize the Gop. Senator Cruz then went on to scrutinize Hillary Clinton’s reproductive rights position without explicitly giving his own. The saddest part of this exchange was how political it was. It was blatantly obvious that the answer to this question about women’s reproductive rights was a political one.  Ted Cruz could of taken this opportunity to spell out his position on reproductive rights and without a time limit like in debates he could of not only stated his stance but why he felt that this policy was the best for the women of America. When politicians don’t do this it makes me ask: are these answers really based on what’s best for the voters? Or does this politician think that’s what his constituents want to hear and believe that this vague left-hating response will give him or herself a spike in the poles. But what Ted Cruz did give me is an opportunity to ask the question: how political should reproductive rights be? In my opinion and I think most women would agree that reproductive rights have become too politicized. This starts with our countries view of reproductive rights: these issues were once very Taboo so they were seldom on the for front of policy until Rowe v Wade in 1973 and since then we have seen a dramatic spike in policy aimed toward reproductive rights. In my opinion like in most things there is some level of government regulation needed in relation with reproductive rights to do things like prevent third trimester abortions but what if for the most part we let reproductive rights be just what they’re called, rights; Inalienable, absolute rights. It’s no wonder why some women don’t want the government having say in their reproduction or contraceptive decisions. Angela Davis illustrates in her writing “reproductive rights” how the government in the past has used reproductive rights to push its own agenda even systematically limit the populations of people of color. I don’t see why there is this level of regulation needed in what seems to me to be a very personal matter in which our government should have little to no opinion.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/30/politics/ted-cruz-condoms-iowa/index.html