Feminist Wish List

By Shelby Knox

Yesterday on the Huffington Post, FMF President Ellie Smeal outlined President Obama’s strides for women during his first 100 days in office, concluding, “the work President Obama and his team have accomplished for women and girls in the first 100 days is impressive.”

Indeed it is. As young women we have President Obama to thank for cheaper birth control and EC over the counter for 17-year-olds, as well as stronger equal pay protections and the new White House Council for Women and Girls.

Yet, as President Obama said last night during his address on his first 100 days in office, this is only the start. Since gratitude never radicalized anyone and there is always something more to fight for, here’s my young feminist activist wish list for President Obama’s next 100 days:

Eliminate funding for abstinence-only-until-marriage programs. The federal government has put over a billion dollars into convincing teens to remain virgins until marriage, using programs that often contain inaccurate information about condoms and contraception, biases about gender and sexuality, and religious messaging. Much of this money is handed out to tax-exempt fake clinics that pose as real health centers for the sole purpose of convincing women they will regret abortion. It’s time to put science above ideology and give young people the information they need to make responsible decisions about sex.

Give immigrant women a choice about the HPV vaccine. According to a federal mandate, immigrant women between the ages of 11 and 26 seeking to adjust their citizenship status are required to receive the Gardasil vaccine, despite no similar requirement for American citizens. The cost of the vaccine adds $400 or more to the $1400 cost of applying for citizenship and evokes a long history of enacting oppressive reproductive health policies on immigrant women and women of color. All women should be able to make an informed choice in consultation with a health professional about the vaccine.

Understand the right to choose is “simply about women’s freedom” – and that’s non-negotiable. During his prime time press conference last night, President Obama was asked whether he is still eager to sign the Freedom of Choice Act. While establishing its unimportance in his legislative agenda, President Obama said it would be a mistake to think, “this is simply an issue about women's freedom and that there's no other considerations.” He spoke of the need to reduce abortion by reducing teen pregnancies and the consensus he hopes to reach amongst “groups both in the pro-choice camp and in the pro-life camp.”

What the president doesn’t seem to know is that the same groups that oppose abortion also oppose birth control. Extreme right-wing groups whose ideology is intrinsically opposed to women’s reproductive freedom are not the right partners in this fight, no matter how much short-term political capital it wins or how much cover it gives “conservadems” facing tough primary fights. There are many mainstream religious organizations whose values are much more in line with the beliefs of the majority of Americans, including the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice and Catholics for Choice, that would be much better suited to adding a moral voice to the discussion on curbing unintended pregnancy.

Of course, there are so very many more things that could be done to help women and girls here and around the world. Leave your wishes for the President’s next 100 days in the comments!