Suzanne La Follette Quotes
. . . nothing could be more grotesquely unjust than a code of morals, reinforced by laws, which relieves men from responsibility for irregular sexual acts, and for the same acts drives women to abortion, infanticide, prostitution, and self-destruction.
La Follette, Suzanne. Concerning Women. Albert & Charles Boni, 1926.
She was the first Black woman to be elected to Congress and was the first Black woman to actively campaign for the Presidency
In 1877 Annie Besant and Charles Bradlaugh attempted to publish The Fruits of Philosophy in Britain. It was a book on Birth Control. The two were immediately arrested and charged with publishing an ‘obscene’ book. Gifford was the Public Prosecutor. The authors were convicted and sentenced to 6 months in prison. However, they appealed and were exonerated in the appeal. The case was good for Gifford who went on to become Lord Chancellor of Britain. The trial was a strong motivator for Annie Besant to have a very activist career thereafter.
A Woman’s Concern like many other anti-abortion groups are also morally opposed to birth control of all kinds except celibacy or the “rhythm method” which is not particularly effective. He was appointed by the George W. Bush administration after vigorous lobbying by some of the extreme right wing religious groups who wanted birth control such as pills, IUDs or condoms to be made illegal. These proposals did not get much public support as the vast majority of Americans including a majority of Catholics use birth control methods that this man would have criminalized. His claims about the negative effects of birth control had no scientific bases whatsoever. As a physician, he had been warned by the Medical Association for the improper practice of medicine. He had to resign his government position.
He was referring to Sandra Fluke, a student at Georgetown University, a Catholic school whose health plans did not cover birth control pills. The Heath advisory committees had concluded that birth control pills were a critical element of women’s health. Congress was debating a rule that would exempt religions from having to provide birth control as a part of their health insurance if it was against their beliefs. However, universities, hospitals, museums and civil activities run by churches were not exempt, Ms Fluke testified before Congress that her birth control pills cost her much money out of pocket. Many conservatives throughout the country opposed the requirement, some on religious conscience grounds and others like Limbaugh who opposed because they opposed birth control itself. So Limbaugh concluded that since with insurance paying for birth control for women, the women were getting paid to have sex. Therefore Ms. Fluke was a prostitute and a slut. There was a national outrage over Limbaugh’s statements and many conservatives, especially those running for office were put in an awkward position. They realized the inappropriate logic and use of language and the meanness that Limbaugh exhibited, but with few exceptions they were afraid that if they opposed him publicly, Limbaugh would retaliate on the airways and he was the major Republican spokesman at the time. Although not a politician, he was in many ways the leader of the party. However, this time his mean, twisted, venomous, attack had gone too far. It was not a politician he had attacked this time; just an innocent young student. A number of his sponsors dropped him.
The American Catholic Bishops wanted the right of religious organizations who ran civil institutions like hospitals or universities to deny its female employees any insurance coverage for birth control while paying for Viagra for males. Artificial birth control methods were considered immoral by the Roman Catholic Church. The Bishops did not feel that their institutions should be required to follow the civil law if their religious precepts opposed it. Quinn observed that 99% of women in America use birth control and even 98% of Catholic women did. This is a wonderful example of how subtle a basic principle like separation of church and state can be. The churches themselves did not have to pay for birth control insurance, but other Catholic-related entities did. How far would the bishops take their view. If a spaghetti factory were owned by a Catholic Church, would it have to insure birth control like other spaghetti factories? What about if the factory were a public company and the church owned all the stock? Most of the stock? Part of the stock? There are no clear and simple answers to these questions.
The men in political power however chose to stamp out the latter, but while decrying the immorality of the former, accept it with a “wink and a nod”.
Robertson was so fearful of feminism that he ascribed almost every evil in society to it as well as witchcraft.
Suzanne Clara La Follette was an American journalist and author who advocated for libertarian feminism in the first half of the 20th century. As an editor she helped found several magazines. She was an early and ardent feminist and a vocal anticommunist.
