To the editor:
The war began in 2011, when Florida's Republican legislators decided to focus on an ideological agenda instead of the most urgent needs of Floridians.
From there, the lawmakers went forward to:
n Defund Planned Parenthood, denying basic health care for poor women
n Sue in order to prevent contraception from being a routine part of employers' health benefits for all women
n Approve mandatory but medically unnecessary ultrasounds before an abortion, putting government between women and their health care providers
It's important to note existing U.S. law, the Hyde Amendment, provides that no taxpayer money from Medicaid or other federal funds could be used for abortion. So it's not a question of where your tax dollar goes - it's a matter of government overreach and intrusion into women's personal lives, from a party that claims to want government out of our lives.
Florida legislators had well over a dozen radical bills against women's rights in 2011. I personally lobbied against these bills, only to be reassured by my Republican state lawmaker that these extreme bills would not pass. But guess what: Some of them passed. I cannot understand why we women elect and re-elect men so determined to set boundaries on our lives.
There absolutely IS a war on women-with the aim of setting us back to the Dark Ages. These laws, which violate our constitutional rights, must be repealed.
Joan Patterson
Lehigh Acres
