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WASHINGTON,
D.C. – U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) issued “The Bush Administration
Misstatement of the Day” on women’s issues.
During
an appearance
on CNN’s Late Edition, on Sunday, April 25, 2004, Karen Hughes, “the
president's long-time friend and adviser,” spoke about the March
for Women’s Lives, where a million pro-choice women and men marched
in Washington, D.C. in support of reproductive freedom. Hughes, who
tried to equate pro-choice Americans with terrorists, defended President
Bush’s record on women’s issues. Hughes said:
“I
think the president gets far too little credit for what he has done for
American women.” (Karen Hughes, CNN, 4/25/04)
However,
according to a report
by the National Women’s Law Center, “… the Bush Administration is taking
steps to roll back women’s progress in every aspect of their lives – their
opportunities to succeed at work and in school, their economic security,
their health and reproductive rights.” The report titled “Slip-Sliding
Away: The Erosion of Hard-Won Gains for Women Under the Bush Administration
and an Agenda for Moving Forward,” continues:
“…the
Administration’s massive tax cuts are benefiting the wealthiest Americans
and resulting in extensive cuts in important government programs” that
impact women. The Administration is also “abolishing the government’s
Equal Pay Initiative, ‘archiving’ its guidelines on sexual harassment
in schools, undermining medical research and distorting scientific information
to further an anti-abortion and anti-family planning agenda, and placing
individuals hostile to women’s interests on expert advisory committees
responsible for issues such as domestic violence, reproductive health,
and women in the military.”
Schakowsky
joined
members of Congress in calling on President Bush to disavow Hughes’
comments and in demanding that Hughes immediately apologize. |
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