From the Politico:
Tim Kaine, the Virginia governor and President Barack Obama’s hand-picked choice as the head of the Democratic National Committee, infuriated abortion-rights groups Monday by signing legislation that gives abortion foes an important symbolic win.
The legislation Kaine signed allows Virginia to distribute and profit from “Choose Life” license plates. By my estimation, these would be more aptly named “Choose Deception” license plates because they are purchased in support of Crisis Pregnancy Centers, facilities that pose as women’s health care clinics but exist only to stop everything they consider abortion — actual abortion, morning after pills, birth control pills, etc.
Women who have unknowingly went to one of these centers report being forced to listen to religious lectures, being given misinformation about the risks of abortion, being denied access to birth control and being refused referrals to legitimate health care providers.
The Democratic Party’s platform does much more than uphold a woman’s right to have an abortion or to use contraception. It confirms the fact that women are intelligent and capable humans, perfectly suited to take in all the facts surrounding any given situation and to make an appropriate choice based on those facts.
Crisis pregnancy centers — the places being funded by the license plates that Kaine approved as Virginia governor — are firmly opposed to that principal. They believe that women must be fooled, given misinformation, berated and forced into a decision.
Because Kaine obviously does not understand this — or perhaps because he does, but just doesn’t care — he has no business leading the Democratic National Committee. It is time for Obama to pick another individual who understands and respects the fundamentals of the Democratic Party’s platform, and, more importantly, someone who understands and respects women.
