No, that is not a headline from the latest edition of the National Enquirer. Incredibly, that is the title that the Judiciary Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives has selected for a hearing that is scheduled to begin this Wednesday at 10 AM ET. The U.S. Congress can find no fig leaf, no verbiage, nor even any doublespeak to suggest that this hearing is anything other than an opportunity for political grandstanding as they re-open yet another front in the War on Women.
Gee whiz, I wonder what the hearing will find?
Perhaps you need a title like that to distract from the real purpose of the hearing, which is to justify not only defunding Planned Parenthood, but completely gutting Title X and leaving millions of women without access to reproductive health care.
Or perhaps this is just a bone that House Speaker John Boehner has thrown to the rabid forced-birthers and their supporters in the Republican base. He knows that shutting down the government once again—this time over women's health—is not a good idea, but is facing yet another challenge from his troublesome ultra-conservative contingent. So earlier this summer he called for hearings. This means that, in addition to the Judiciary Committee, we can look forward to hearings from the Energy and Commerce, and Oversight and Government Reform committees. Yipee. Sadly, they have not released any bombastic titles yet.
Read on for more.