Sexist mandate after intrusive mandate, American women are clinging on to their reproductive rights by a single thread. Nearly 40 years after the landmark decision of Roe v. Wade, conservative politicians are spearheading gross violations that are mere chauvinistic displays of power to appeal to the religious Right. The Right’s political race for the presidency has revealed an all-out assault by conservative legislators flexing their patriarchal muscles to chain down women’s rights once more.

The question is: how long are we going to tolerate it?

Accessible reproductive healthcare, including birth control and abortions, are vital aspects of the fight for women’s rights and equality. The state – as always, mostly elected male officials – telling American women what they can and cannot do with their bodies is as clear and brutal form of oppression as it gets. While the income disparity between men and women still remains an issue of inequality, giving the state complete jurisdiction over a woman’s body is once again on the table for debate in 2012. Imagine.

A Double Standard

One in three women has an abortion during her lifetime. As accessible reproductive care for women has now officially been labeled for “sluts,” women face two opposing categories to fall into: the slut and the virgin. Republicans are openly vilifying women for taking control of their healthcare (cue in Rush Limbaugh, Mitt Romney etc.) instead of lending it over to men who will never get pregnant. The one-in-three statistic demonstrates the vast need for safe and accessible reproductive healthcare on demand and without apology.

At the heart of this debate is whether women or the state should have control over our healthcare. While men are never even questioned about their sexual health – especially by the state – women are expected to succumb to a brand of misogyny that reduces them to sex-crazed nymphomaniacs when they take the responsibility of contraception seriously.

Need we say: Women are not farm animals. Yet the “Women as Livestock” bill recently passed by the Georgia State Senate is a perfect example of the immoral, patriarchal chains in which women are becoming increasingly confined. Rep. Terry England (R-Auburn) said if farmers have to “deliver calves, dead or alive,” then a woman carrying a dead fetus or one not expected to survive should also have to carry it to term. The physical and psychological turmoil a woman must go through to deliver a stillborn baby is something Mr. England will never have to endure, but expects women to handle without a flinch. The bill, which does not include any exemptions for rape or incest, outlaws abortions after 20 weeks even though Roe v. Wade guarantees abortions up to 24 weeks.

But it isn't just the politicians who are literally treating women like farm creatures; so are many anti-choice groups as well. Conservative anti-choice female groups have been all the while on the sidelines cheering their conservative cronies to launch women back to the early 1900s: the time of the coat hanger. American women’s right to self-determination cannot, legally and morally, be threatened by the religious right in an attempt to police the bodies of women. But as long as conservatives are valuing the life of a fetus or even a fertilized egg more than that of a person, women cannot and will not be liberated.

A bi-partisan sexist attack

Nor have the Democrats been blameless in the war on women. After the Obama administration announced federal legislation requiring employee healthcare plans to cover birth control—which is used by 99 percent of sexually active women—President Obama folded under the conservative backlash and quickly searched for a compromise. Instead, he said, insurers, not employers, would be the ones responsible for covering birth control, forcing women through a maze of insurance policy dead ends to receive basic healthcare. This is untenable. An employer’s religious beliefs cannot constitutionally supersede a female employee’s right to reproductive medical attention. In doing this, President Obama has become one more spectator watching women’s fundamental human rights being stripped away across the country.

What’s worse is that this isn’t just a question of contraception: it puts preventative healthcare measures such as mammograms and other cancer screenings at risk as well. Not only are some states confiscating women’s rights, but states are putting women’s lives at risk by having them chase down and pay directly out of pocket for standard medical procedures.

We, as women, cannot claim equality if someone else has control over our bodies. A woman’s right to self-determination is not a political litmus test. It is a fundamental human right that is on the brink of annihilation. We demand full coverage, accessible healthcare and complete control of our bodies without apology and without reprimand. And if they do not or cannot give us those things then they don't know what's coming to them.