Missouri State House floor —- can you find me?
The Missouri state legislature has been in session for 17 days and you might think we were in the ugly dark days of “Mad Men”. Remember when President Obama referenced that series in his State of the Union? It’s not just a comical reference but oh so very very true.
Let me clarify. We have only 38 women (half GOP, half DEM) of 163 members in our State House and 5 women (all Dems) of 34 State Senators. That’s 21.8% of our legislature, slightly below the 24% national average of state legislatures. Many days it FEELS like we’re actually in an episode of “Father Knows Best” (Google that 1950’s family show). The majority of elected women under the dome keep their mouths shut and turn the other way PARTICULARLY when we are legislating policy that directly affects them and their fellow women. Really they do.
So far this session we have voted 72 hour abortion waiting periods (SB519, HB1313 & HB1307) and the Speaker’s Conscience Bill (HB 1430 – allowing medical professionals to refuse treatment of “women’s stuff” if their conscience tells them to) out of committee.
We also discussed in a House committee just this week when a woman should stop breastfeeding. I kid you not. I was there and after about an hour of this discussion of women’s breasts, I almost stood up and screamed, “STOP!” And get this —there were women on these committees who think kindly of these policies! We haven’t yet had floor debate on humiliating/demeaning/suppressing women bills but I assure you those days are not far away.
Missouri is just ONE state you need to keep an eye on. We are not unlike Texas, North Carolina, Ohio, South Dakota, Oklahoma…and many more state capitols. We may not be making mainstream national news but we somehow manage to end up on Jon Stewart’s “The Daily Show”. What an honor!
Remember, the lovely women-friendly ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) has figured out that ramming their horrible policies through state legislatures is easier than dealing with Congress. State Houses/Senates are where the action is. We may not look as sexy and cool as the big kids in Washington D.C. but we progressive women are fighting like the dickens (who says that anymore?) right here at home in your backyards.
I beg of you to PLEASE start paying attention. In Missouri we can file bills up to April 1st with plenty of time left to send them to the governor before we adjourn on May 16th. We desperately need your voices to stop, derail and blowup these horrible anti-women ideas.
If you don’t know yet who your own state legislator is, then you’re way too late to the game. Electeds work for you, remember? You hired them to work under the Dome for you. You do remember voting them in, right? Oh, sorry….most of us get elected in either primaries or without any opposition with less than 30% voter turnout on Election Day.
Stay tuned as I keep you up to date on bills this year that you may not even believe. Drafting the “worst women’s legislation in the nation” is a game I’m sure keeps the Missouri GOP up at night. Suppressing women either at the ballot box or in their doctor’s office is their priority.
You better believe it. You betcha.