First, I am a woman.
- Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act as the first bill he signed of his first term. Mitt Romney still refuses to answer whether or not he would have signed this bill. I can't imagine being a woman and voting for someone who refuses to answer whether or not he thinks I should get equal pay for equal work.
- Under Obamacare, starting in 2014, I will no longer have to pay more for my health insurance than men pay. If Romney is elected and gets rid of Obamacare, I will continue to have to pay more for my health insurance than men simply because I am a woman.
- Under Obamacare, my birth control is covered. I pay a fraction of what I used to pay to get my prescription birth control. I have had a lot of people ask me, "Why should I pay for your birth control? Just don't have sex." Here's the thing: people are going to have sex whether they are on birth control or not. I think it's more important to keep women who can't afford to have children from getting pregnant, instead of complaining about the kids being born into poverty and the "irresponsibility" of the mothers.
- Mitt Romney is going to make all abortions illegal. There will be no exceptions for pregnancies that occurred because of rape or incest. I have a friend who was raped at 17 and became pregnant. She ended up miscarrying, but was planning on getting an abortion because she was absolutely not in a place financially or physically where she could have had the child. What would have happened to her if she hadn't miscarried and abortion wasn't legal? Making abortions illegal is terrifying because if women can't get them safely and legally, they will get them illegally or try to perform them themselves. This is really scary because it is going to put many more women at risk for infections, diseases from unclean instruments, and death than if abortion was legal and they could have it done safely. Last night Romney said that he didn't want a board of people making decisions about his healthcare (in regard to Obamacare). I don't want him making decisions about my healthcare.
Second, I am someone who is currently benefiting from Obamacare.
- Last night, Romney said that his plan would allow young people up to 26 years old to stay on their parents' health insurance plans--if their private health insurance company allowed it. I know that before Obamacare was passed my parents' health insurance plan did not allow that. I am 23 years old and unemployed. Now, because of Obamacare, I get to stay on my parents' plan and I have health insurance.
- Last night, Romney said that his plan would make it possible for people with pre-existing conditions to have insurance--if they were already on an insurance plan that allows that. I know that my parents' health insurance plan doesn't cover pre-existing conditions. I don't know how I could find insurance while being unemployed that I can afford that would cover pre-existing conditions. Because of Obamacare, I will get to have health insurance even though I have a pre-existing condition.
Third, I am part of the LGBT community and so is my older sister, who was married to her wife in 2008 when it was legal in San Francisco.
- Obama supports same-sex marriage. Romney is going to amend the constitution to ban same-sex marriage.
- Obama repealed "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" so now people can serve their country without hiding a part of who they are.
- Obama made it possible for my sister to visit her wife in the hospital. Romney would take that right away.
- Mitt Romney favors allowing states to ban civil unions, which means that people of the LGBT community would not be allowed to even be in a union. This is a problem because this affects LGBT couples' health insurance, life insurance, adoption plans, visitation rights, and also the right that they don't have just because they are in the LGBT community: to marry the person you love.
This is the second sentence of our Declaration of Independence:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,
that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,
that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness."
Obviously, it was written at a time when only men (white men who owned property) were "created equal." But times have changed. If these rights are "self-evident" then why are we (women and the LGBT community) having to fight so hard to get our rights? President Obama has, and is going to continue to finally grant us our "unalienable Rights." If Romney is elected, we, the mothers, daughters, sisters, and leaders of the community, will not get the self-evident truths upon which our country was founded.
I agree: this is a very clear choice.
"Be the change you wish to see in the world." --Gandhi
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