Ladies! Listen up. It should come as no surprise that women will decide this election. That’s why we’re seeing strong mothers, daughters, wives, sisters and friends coming together to do whatever it takes to make sure we can continue to strengthen the middle class and keep America moving forward.
Women are 55 percent of the electorate. There is too much at stake for any one of us to sit on the sidelines. In 2000, 537 votes decided the election. This year could be just as close, and the stakes are higher today than ever before. Our economic and health security depend on this election.
The choice for women could not be clearer: Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are wrong for women. They would take us back to the same top-down policies that failed us in the last decade.
Look no farther than the recent presidential debate where the president talked about women as breadwinners for American families; Mitt Romney talked about them as resumés in “binders.” He doesn’t understand the challenges women face or believe in helping them fight for equal pay.
President Obama knows that when women make less than men for the same work, it threatens the economic security of entire families. That’s why the first bill he signed was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which helps women fight for the equal pay they earned.
Romney is cynically and dishonestly trying to hide his positions, but women won’t be fooled.
We’ve had a chance to get to know Romney well in the six years he’s been running for president. We won’t forget who Romney is or what he’s promised.
He wants to give tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires at the expense of middle class families like yours. He wants to turn Medicare into a voucher program, putting seniors at the mercy of private insurance companies and causing out-of-pocket costs to double within 10 years. He has made his fortune outsourcing American jobs to India and China.
And on the issue of women’s health, the story gets even worse.
Romney has pledged to repeal the president’s health care reform law, which makes it illegal for insurance companies to charge women more than men for the exact same coverage.
But Romney has not only promised to repeal “Obamacare.” He has said he would “get rid of” funding for Planned Parenthood and that he supports the Blunt-Rubio Amendment, which would take women’s health decisions out of their hands and give it to employers.
That’s why women have to make our voices heard by voting for President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden.
And you should join us. If you’re in Athens County, head to 15 S. Court St. Otherwise, go to www.gottavote.com to find where to vote.
Shannon Welch is the president of Ohio University’s College Democrats.
