People are smarter than that

     In today’s Portsmouth Herald, Kate Murray pulls out the tired old liberal wag that Republicans have a “War on Women.”  Kate starts off with saying that “it was not until 1920 that women nationally had the right to vote.”  What she fails to mention that it is only through the dedicated efforts of Republicans that a woman’s right to vote ever came about.  For years, Congressional Republicans put forth a Constitutional Amendment to allow women the right to vote, and each time Democrats voted it down.  When it finally got through Congress, the majority of the states that passed the Amendment had Republican legislatures and Governors.  The majority of states that voted it down had Democrat legislatures and Governors.
     To support her argument against Republicans, Kate conflates a woman’s right to decide her own health care choices with an employers’ right to provide benefits to their employees. No one denies that a woman should have the right to decide whether to use contraceptives. However, that doesn’t mean that an employer must be forced to pay for that choice if it violates the employer’s religious belief.  That is what the Hobby Lobby Supreme Court decision was all about.
     Kate is purposely trying to confuse voters on this issue and, unfortunately, some people don’t understand the difference between the right to choose and the right to not be forced to pay for something that violates your religious beliefs.  Hopefully, enough thoughtful people understand the difference and see through Kate's charade.