{"id":208121,"date":"2019-08-08T08:09:55","date_gmt":"2019-08-08T13:09:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=208121"},"modified":"2019-08-08T12:01:27","modified_gmt":"2019-08-08T17:01:27","slug":"florida-senator-no-abortion-decisions-without-women","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/florida-senator-no-abortion-decisions-without-women\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida senator: Ban men from voting on abortion bills unless half the votes are women’s"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Florida Senator Lauren Book has called<\/a> for a state Constitutional amendment about abortion votes. Namely, she wants to block all abortion votes unless half of those voting are women.<\/p>\n

Book claimed her joint resolution, SJR 60<\/a>, has been introduced in response to the advance of pro-life legislation in many states around the country this year. \u201cSeeing what state legislatures across the country have done, I believe it is time to stand up and fight to ensure women have access to comprehensive health care and family planning,\u201d Block said, according to USA Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Women in the Florida House comprise approximately 30 percent of the chamber (36 out of 120 members), which is similar to the proportion of women in the state Senate (12 out of 40). Given the fact that men make up the overwhelming majority in both chambers, Book\u2019s legislation is designed to make any pro-life law more difficult to pass — in theory<\/em>. However, Book inexplicably discounts the fact that there are pro-life women<\/em> in the House and Senate. Women are not a monolith<\/a> when it comes to abortion — most Republican women are against it, and most Democratic women support it.<\/p>\n

READ:\u00a0Slate: Polls show majority, including women, oppose taxpayer-funded abortion<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Another thing Book seems to overlook is the fact that women vote, just as men do, for their elected senators and representatives, and they likely do so knowing those candidates’ positions on issues like abortion. Therefore, women frequently help to elect male politicians who share their political views<\/em> to represent them in government. This makes Book’s effort appear even more short-sighted.<\/p>\n

Planned Parenthood often puts forth Book’s same talking point in an effort to make abortion solely about women, an attempt to lock anyone else out of the discussion. “We see overwhelmingly men file legislation that would impact women’s’ health,\u201d said Kimberly Scott of Planned Parenthood according to WJHG<\/a>, talking about pro-life legislation introduced around the country this year.<\/p>\n

Agricultural Commissioner Nikki Fried backed up the senator on Twitter. \u201cWomen will lead and win the fight to make our own decisions. Women\u2019s rights are human rights,\u201d she said in a tweet. \u201c?????????? No votes about us without us!\u201d replied Book, tagging Planned Parenthood Twitter accounts.<\/p>\n

The notion that only women can make decisions about abortion, or that abortion is solely or primarily about women, is wrong on a number of levels. Most notably, the premise of Book\u2019s resolution falls prey to a logical fallacy — the \u201cgenetic fallacy\u201d — which happens when someone judges the merits of an argument based on who or where it came from, rather than the merits of the argument itself, an argument addressed in this Created Equal video:<\/p>\n