The Feminist Majority, a leading national women’s rights organization, endorses Congressman Chris Murphy for U.S. Senate in his race against Linda McMahon. Eleanor Smeal, president of the Feminist Majority will join leading women’s rights advocates including Terry O’Neill, president of the National Organization for Women, and U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, on a Women for Murphy Bus Tour this Saturday. In all, the tour will travel to four Congressional Districts covering the following themes: pay equity, domestic violence, childcare, and women’s health.
The tour starts at the Murphy Headquarters in Rocky Hill at 8:30 AM and includes stops at Kelly Middle School in Norwich (10:00 AM), the Town Hall Steps in Branford (11:30 AM), Murphy Campaign Fairfield Headquarters (1:00 PM), and the West Hartford Town Green (2:30 PM).
Smeal explained, “This is a very important race for women in the fight to keep a pro-women’s rights majority in the Senate. There is a stark difference between Chris Murphy and Linda McMahon on many women’s rights issues, even on an issue such as the medical treatment of rape victims. McMahon believes a religiously affiliated hospital, supported by state or federal funding, has a right to deny rape victims access to emergency contraception on the grounds of separation of church and state. Murphy supports a popular Connecticut law requiring all rape victims to have access to emergency contraception no matter what hospital they seek help from or are taken to.”
“Chris Murphy strongly supports and Linda McMahon wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA),” Smeal continued. “The ACA is the most important federal legislation in decades and it provides women of all ages many benefits. It prohibits health insurance price bias against women, requires maternity coverage, bans exclusion of coverage on the basis of of pre-existing conditions, allows children to stay on their parents’ insurance until age 26, and provides a host of well-women services including mammograms, pap smears, and contraceptives, without co-pays or deductibles. For seniors it closes the prescription drug donut hole under Medicare, and provides an annual doctor’s visit, cancer screenings, and immunizations without co-pays or deductibles. The Republican leadership is pledged to repeal the ACA, would privatize Medicare, and voted to take $716 billion of benefits out of Medicare.”
Chris Murphy strongly supports pay equity for women while the Republican leadership in the Senate has been filibustering the Paycheck Fairness Act and would have prevented the passage of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. McMahon refuses to say where she stands on the Paycheck Fairness Act. Finally, Murphy strongly supports legislation to curb violence against women, while McMahon, during her tenure as leader of the World Wrestling Entertainment, fostered an atmosphere of degrading violence toward women.
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