(Note: I have asked a variety of people to submit an essay to me to be posted during the month of December, to be called "Looking Forward to 2008". This entry was written by Rebecca White and Meggin Baxter.)
What are we looking forward to in 2008? That's an easy one -- the election of a lifetime, of course! We've had seven years under an administration that's openly hostile to women and families and, quite frankly, we believe that's more than a lifetime's worth. It seems like voters are starting to wake up and see what can happen when you don't value women and families. But just in case you've missed them - here are just some of the highlights (or lowlights depending on your perspective) from our nation's capital over the past year: birth control prices for college students sky rocketing nationwide; veto of the State Children's Health Insurance Program that would have insured 4-6 million currently uninsured children; nomination of Susan Orr, an anti-birth control activist, to lead family-planning programs at the Department of Health and Human Services; and the administration continuing to waste taxpayers' money funding for "abstinence-only-unless-married" sex education programs (so far over $1 billion nationwide and over $17 million in the Lone Star State). These highly expensive, but totally ineffective, programs are costing us more than taxpayer money - they're costing us the health and safety of the nation's youth, denying them accurate information on how to protect themselves against pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV. These programs are so bad even the President's daughter, Jenna, is on record publicly opposing them.
But, we're not discouraged. We've just seen some exciting polling results that confirm what we've been saying for a long time - a strong majority of voters are sick and tired of cynical politicians posturing on and arguing about divisive social issues. They're sick of these ideologues who pontificate, but do nothing to address real problems. For example, polling shows that voters don't see the problem as abortion - they see the problem as too many unintended pregnancies that result in too many unwanted, uncared for children. Voters understand that the best way to deal with unintended pregnancies is to prevent them in the first place by providing common-sense, preventive measures like comprehensive sex education and increased access to family planning services, not by placing additional restrictions on abortion. Basically, polls show that voters are more interested in putting prevention first and political rhetoric last.
In 2008, we'll have the chance to take that message to our clients, to our supporters, and to the voting booth and that's just what we plan to do. We're looking forward to registering 5,000 new voters in our health centers and on college campuses across southeast Texas. We're looking forward to making sure our voters turn out like never before to elect pragmatic politicians who understand the value of prevention and coming together to solve real problems that affect real people. Election 2008 is truly the election of a lifetime and we plan to show up and make a difference! Happy New Year! Happy Better Year! Happy 2008!
Rebecca White is the Political Director for Planned Parenthood of Houston & Southeast Texas Action Fund. Meggin Baxter is the Public Affairs Field Manager for Planned Parenthood of Houston & Southeast Texas.)