Will Someone Please Pay for my Rubbers

[Conan71]

They made the whole basis of this supposition on how easy it is to terminate a pregnancy here?  I've never heard my mother, wife, or daughters complain what an awful state this is to be a female.  What a load of complete BS. One in four women in Oklahoma don't have health insurance?  I call more BS.

What's more, the share of women in the Oklahoma legislature is a pitiful 12.8%, and there are no women in its Congress.

I guess the author doesn't realize we have a female governor who won a female/female race for that seat and was one of our U.S. representatives prior to becoming said governor.

I also don't recall anyone throwing up a stink that health insurance didn't pay for abortion prior to a few years ago.  I find it difficult to believe that $250 or $300 for a uterus vacuuming is that big a hardship to come up with the $$.

[Townsend]

They made the whole basis of this supposition on how easy it is to terminate a pregnancy here?  I've never heard my mother, wife, or daughters complain what an awful state this is to be a female.  What a load of complete BS. One in four women in Oklahoma don't have health insurance?  I call more BS.

I guess the author doesn't realize we have a female governor who won a female/female race for that seat and was one of our U.S. representatives prior to becoming said governor.

I also don't recall anyone throwing up a stink that health insurance didn't pay for abortion prior to a few years ago.  I find it difficult to believe that $250 or $300 for a uterus vacuuming is that big a hardship to come up with the $$.

Gotta look at both sides.  Oklahoma conservatives can post all the great things they do here too.

[Conan71]

Gotta look at both sides.  Oklahoma conservatives can post all the great things they do here too.

That's a really lame way to pass it off as if that's the only criteria by which a woman would choose a place to live.

[Townsend]

That's a really lame way to pass it off as if that's the only criteria by which a woman would choose a place to live.

It's an example.  We've got many reasons why Oklahoma is screwed up. 

This is one way to outline on the female side.  One of the medical freedoms which is available in other states is not easily accessible here in Oklahoma and female representation is severely limited.

I'm not trying to represent any women with this.  It was a post I saw and decided to place it here.  Oklahoma is so donkey-backward I think it should be talked about.  We have enough social conservatives spewing stupidity.  Might as well place another side out there.

[Conan71]

What torqued me is the author makes it sound as if A) that's the only essential issue facing women and B) we exclude women from governance in Oklahoma. 

Based on Sally Kern alone, she's a good argument as to why we don't need more women like her in our state congress

[erfalf]

Top 5 Worst U.S. States for Women

http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/03/23/top-5-worst-u-s-states-for-women/#2-oklahoma

Oklahoma is ranked #2 in this article.  Mississippi wins again.

Should have been titled "Worst State to be Democrat Woman"

Just to be clear, because I feel like everyone on here is a man, there are women who believe abortion is wrong too. This is not just some man trying to keep the woman down thing.

[Hoss]

Should have been titled "Worst State to be Democrat Woman"

Just to be clear, because I feel like everyone on here is a man, there are women who believe abortion is wrong too. This is not just some man trying to keep the woman down thing.

Wow...that speaks volumes about your ideology.  To me, anyway.

[Townsend]

Based on Sally Kern alone, she's a good argument as to why we don't need more women like her in our state congress

"like her", yes.  She's not screwed up because she's a woman. (and I know you know that)  She's screwed up because she's easily swayed to crazy stupidity.  Something or someone broke her a long time ago or she was born broken.

The governor is just trying to hold onto office by appeasing the "good ol' folk" outside the larger towns in OK.  When she sides with them to keep their vote, she's gotta side big.  She can't just disagree with the President.  She's gotta show them she hates his children.

[Red Arrow]

I feel like everyone on here is a man,

Not true.  I've never met any of the women on TNF in person but there are definitely some on the forum.

[we vs us]

The ranking came from iVillage, which is an established webzine for women.  According to the introduction to the series on their website:

While reproductive rights, birth control and health care access dominate the headlines, our investigation has brought these issues home to where women live. In creating our rankings, we analyzed health care and reproductive rights as well as economic success, access to affordable childcare, female representation in government and educational attainment. We wondered: Which states are getting things right and really helping women? And which states still have a learning curve on these issues?

The full Oklahoma entry reads:

The Lowdown
A woman's right to choose is under attack in Oklahoma, a state where there are few women in politics.

The Good News
Oklahoma offers family planning medical assistance (contraceptives and reproductive wellness exams) for families of three earning up to $35,000 a year, a higher threshold than that federal law stipulates. Roughly the same group qualifies for childcare assistance and the state has no waiting list for help.

The Bad News
Nearly 25 percent of women lack health insurance -- that's one out of every four women. Not coincidentally, Oklahoma women also rank among the worst in the nation when it comes to Pap smear and mammogram rates. Healthy weight and healthy diet are also an issue -- Oklahoma women have the nation's worst record when it comes to eating five servings of fruits and vegetables a day.

Choice is extremely limited in Oklahoma, where 96 percent of counties have no abortion provider and there are only six such doctors in the entire state. Health insurance companies are banned from covering the procedure (except in cases of rape, incest or threat to the mother's life). Women seeking an abortion have to wait 24 hours after undergoing a sonogram where they will be offered a chance to view the fetus and are required to listen to a description of the image on the screen. The state legislature is working to limit choice even further. The state Senate recently passed a Personhood bill that gives legal personhood rights to embryos from the moment of fertilization. The bill is awaiting action in the House. A "Heartbeat" bill requiring doctors to tell women they have the right to hear the fetal heartbeat before ending a pregnancy passed the state Senate in early March and is awaiting action by the House. If passed, both bills will likely be signed by anti-choice Gov. Mary Fallin.

Finally, politically the state has one of the lowest percentages of women in its state legislature -- a mere 12.8 percent and there are no Oklahoma women in Congress.

Hear Us Roar
One-time U.N. Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick was from Duncan, Okla. And Anita Hill, whose testimony at the Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings ignited a national conversation about sexual harassment in the workplace, hails from Morris, Okla.

So:  they took several things into consideration when ranking states; for Oklahoma, while they seem to have used the same basket of metrics, they chose to highlight the lack of access to women's healthcare and abortion services.  Oklahoma is one of the states most interested in restricting access to legal abortions -- hence we get (rightly) nailed for that. 

[we vs us]

Should have been titled "Worst State to be Democrat Woman"

Just to be clear, because I feel like everyone on here is a man, there are women who believe abortion is wrong too. This is not just some man trying to keep the woman down thing.

You need to brush up on your English usage.  It's "Worst State to be a Democratic Woman." 

I just don't want you to sound like a redneck, is all.   

[erfalf]

Wow...that speaks volumes about your ideology.  To me, anyway.

What do you mean. Because I pointed out that not all women are pro-abortion, that somehow makes me a rabid lunatic. Furthermore, does the fact that I don't agree with casual abortions make me a bad person? No, it is an opinion. I have in no way indicated that I think my opinion should be forced on anyone else. I am just making the casual observation that women are part of this discussion on both sides, not just the PP funded side.

And that the article seems to be incredibly biased. What one woman thinks is a negative (lack of abortion doctors) means very little to other women. The author I am guessing is in the former of those two.

[erfalf]

You need to brush up on your English usage.  It's "Worst State to be a Democratic Woman."  

I just don't want you to sound like a redneck, is all.  

No I meant Democrat, the political party not the form of government (didn't want to confuse the two). I don't see how the sentence is incorrect, they are both singular. In all honesty, I was a math person, not English. So I could be incredibly wrong.

[we vs us]

No I meant Democrat, the political party not the form of government (didn't want to confuse the two). I don't see how the sentence is incorrect, they are both singular. In all honesty, I was a math person, not English. So I could be incredibly wrong.

Then please take it from me, I was an English person.  It's Democratic.  The party and type of government have the same form when being used as an adjective.  Otherwise you risk sounding uneducated.  Not to mention disrespectful.  And I know you don't want to be either. 

[Townsend]

Saw a suggestion for our state motto.  "Government so small, it fits in your vagina" but in latin.