Along with hating minorities, Muslims and the poor, the Republican Party also hates women. Republicans throughout Congress have repeatedly voted against the interests of women. That is, except for women with two Mercedes Benz in their parking lots, luxurious financial portfolios and no regard for those members of society who are not bazillionaires. Republicans like those ladies.

For the rest of us, being women with a Republican-controlled Congress is scary. Take abortion, for example. Since W. became president, Congress has voted on reproductive rights 50 times, according to Jane magazine. Pro-choice advocates lost all but nine times.

Mike DeWine, Ohio’s senior senator who is seeking to retain his position this November, is strictly against abortion. NARAL Pro-Choice America gave him a score of 0 percent in voting for women’s reproductive rights. Earlier this year, DeWine also voted against expanding teen pregnancy prevention programs and pregnancy prevention education, according to On The Issues.org.

There is hope, however. If women in Ohio and across the United States voted in just six more pro-choice senators and 15 representatives, pro-choice members of congress would immediately gain the majority on every panel, NARAL reports.

Women must not vote for Republicans such as DeWine. Not only are they against preventing unwanted pregnancies, but they are also against helping these children as they grow up. In February, Republicans passed $39 billion in budget cuts for Medicaid and child support so they could fund $70 billion in tax breaks for the rich, according to The Boston Globe.

Today, more than 17 million women in the United States are uninsured. The Kaiser Family Foundation reported last year that 67 percent of uninsured women went without or at least delayed medical attention they thought they needed because they were too worried they could not afford the care. This number includes some of the 60 percent of uninsured women older than 40 who did not get mammograms last year. The American Public Health Association also gave DeWine a rate of 0 percent for his public health voting record.

Republicans don’t even want women to have roles in politics. Statistics prove the Grand Old Party is a men’s club. Only 23 Republican women serve in the House of Representatives, according to Emily’s List. This is nearly half the number of female Democrats who serve. In the senate, women only boast holding five seats. Democrats aren’t doing much better in that category. Maybe one day we’ll be equal, right?

This lack of concern and respect for American women simply does not make sense, considering women make up more than half the U.S. population. More importantly, in the last presidential election women were more likely than men to vote, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Politicians should be bending over backward to meet our needs. But they don’t.

This lack of attention has to stop. And it has to stop Nov. 7. Women must oust Republican political misogynists from office. It starts with sending Sen. Mike DeWine packing and continues with electing a woman president in two years.

Ladies, let’s start embroidering our Hillary 2008 patches now!

Erin Roof is a senior magazine journalism major and a columnist for the Daily Kent Stater. Like TV On The Radio, she is “gonna teach you tricks that’ll blow your mongrel mind.” Contact her at [email protected].