Superheros, Equal Rights and Women's Health

And now, the superheroes shall comment on the candidates' equal rights and women's health platforms, and give a point for Obama, Romney or Undecided. Once again, some of these statements are direct or expanded quotes. Try to figure out which ones in the comments!

Batman

"Women have been very valuable to all of America, through their pluck and their heroism. Giving them and everyone else equal rights is something that should have been accomplished years ago."
Point for: Obama

Captain America

"Women are being hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We must help them however we can, and voting for Obama will go a long way in helping."
Point for: Obama

Blue Beetle

"Wow. Romney is being really discriminator towards women and homosexuals. Is that even legal?"
Point for: Obama

Shadowcat
"Having been involved with so many fights for people's rights, and I can tell you Romney that people like you who would deny some people their rights are always on the losing side, especially if I have a say in the matter."
Point for: Obama

Hellboy

"If you have two people with the same skills fighting the same monster, you should be giving them the same pay. Obama sees fit to do that."
Point for: Obama

The Question

"Romney's attempt to distance himself from the issue shows that he knows his opinion isn't popular with the public, and for good reason."
Point for: Obama

Spider-Girl  
"Nobody should suffer because we failed to help when we should have. Obama is seeking to help as many as he can."

Point for: Obama

Plastic Man

"A great man once said "Men are from Earth, Women are from Earth, Deal with It". I don't think Romney's dealing with it."
Point for: Obama

Aunt May

"President Obama is helping so many people. I want to help him help others."
Point for: Obama

Gran'ma Ben

"I've learned the hard way you can't go giving some people special treatment. You have to treat everyone equally, or things will go badly for everyone."
Point for: Obama

Mr. Incredible
"You can't go around denying people rights. Those people will be taken advantage of by others looking to exploit them. I'm glad Obama is fixing this."
Point for: Obama

Dr. Deseret

"We need to be making the effort to reach out to the gay community with understanding and respect after many years of strife and heartbreak. Romney clearly doesn't want to do this."
Point for: Obama

Crimson Avenger

"Obama's legal efforts to end inequality should be celebrated, not repealed."
Point for: Obama

Big Bertha

"Discrimination in any form is wrong. People need to look past what's on the outside and see people for who they really are. Romney has basically said he doesn't want to do that."
Point for: Obama

Linda Park-West

"Romney doesn't want to talk about these issues? Then I don't want to talk about him."
Point for: Obama

The Savage Dragon
"Abolishing hate crime task forces and cutting funding to hate crime prevention is a sure way to increase crime. If Romney did that to the whole country, there would be trouble, and I'd bring it right to him."
Point for: Obama

Tigra

"I don't think Romney knows about all of the services Planned Parenthood provides, and how crucial it is for some people. His ignorance is really starting to show."
Point for: Obama

Green Lantern

"Romney's actions are straight up discrimination. One bad lab accident and he could be a supervillian!"
Point for: Obama.

Luke Cage

"Would we be having this discussion if we replaced 'women' or 'gay people' with 'blacks'? So then why does Romney want to keep denying people the same rights?"
Point for: Obama

Superman

"Helping people shouldn't be about where they were born, who they are or what they wear. It's about what you do, It's about the actions you take. And I think Romney's taking the wrong actions."
Point for: Obama





Conclusion

Issue	Obama/Biden	Undecided	Romney/Ryan
Economy	19	1	0
Energy & Environment	19	1	0
Healthcare	20	0	0
Education	20	0	0
Equal Rights and Women's Health	20	0	0

I don't think anyone is surprised with this one. Romney's refusal to talk about the subject really hurts him. Do any of you agree with the superheroes' comments? If you think any of the heroes have been misrepresented, let me know in the comments!
Tomorrow I'll have an article on Captain America's new position, Sunday with some insight into presidential minds, and then on Monday I'll have a piece on Utilitarianism. If you have any suggests, feel free to post them in the comments.
~James

Equal Rights and Women's Health Platforms

For this week's issue, we'll look at candidates' platforms on Equal Rights and Women's Health. Once again, all information and videos are taken directly from the candidates' websites, either in part or in whole, unless otherwise noted, with minimal alteration to clarify and streamline information.

Barack Obama
Summarized from Obama's Website

• President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act to help women fight back against pay discrimination. He understands that when women are paid less than men for the same work, it hurts the entire family.
• President Obama was the first sitting president to publicly announce his support for marriage for same-sex couples, and has always believed LGBT Americans should be treated fairly and equally
• President Obama repealed “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” so that gay and lesbian service members no longer have to lie about who they are to serve the country they love.
• President Obama endorsed the Respect for Marriage Act, signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, and extended hospital visitation and medical decision-making rights to LGBT couples. 
• President Obama has enacted policies that promote the hiring of people with disabilities, increased funding for students with disabilities, provide Americans with access to affordable health care, and improve accessibility standards.
• President Obama is putting an end to the health insurance company practice of charging women more than men for the same coverage.
• Thanks to Obamacare, many insurance plans are beginning to fully cover birth control without co-pays or deductibles as part of women's preventive care—potentially saving women hundreds of dollars every year.
• President Obama believes a woman’s health care choices are personal decisions, best made with her doctor—without interference from politicians.
• President Obama fought back against Republican attempts to defund Planned Parenthood, one of the largest providers of women’s health services, including breast and cervical cancer screenings, and birth control. Under Obamacare, health insurance companies now cover recommended preventive care like mammograms and cancer screenings, and are beginning to cover birth control without co-pays or deductibles.

Romney's Rebuttal


Romney offers no rebuttal to Obama's Equal Rights or Women's Health platforms on his website, so here an small interview by Romney from May, 2012 for as close a rebuttal by Romney on Obama's Equal Rights Platform I could find. I couldn't not find anything from Romney specifically addressing Obama's Women's Health platform, so if anyone knows of anything let me know and I'll update this article.

Mitt Romney
Romney offers no opinion about Equal Rights or Women's Health on his website, so here are some videos of Mitt Romney on the subjects. Apologies for the lack of straight up Romney-only debates
 speech, his lack of any official releases makes that difficult to do, but his position should still be made clear.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Obama's Rebuttal (Summarized from Obama's Website)

• Mitt Romney refused to say whether or not he would have signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act into law. 
• Mitt Romney would enshrine discrimination into the Constitution with an amendment to ban marriage for same-sex couples.
  
• Mitt Romney refused to support the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” and would have left the policy in place.
  
• As governor, Mitt Romney cut funding for hate crimes prevention and abolished a hate crimes task force.
  
• Mitt Romney would repeal the Affordable Care Act and slash Medicaid, which many Americans with disabilities rely on.
• Mitt Romney would let employers, insurance companies, and politicians limit women’s health choices.
  
• Mitt Romney would repeal Obamacare, and give employers the authority to limit women’s access to common forms of birth control.
  
• Mitt Romney believes that Roe v. Wade should be overturned, and backed an extreme proposal to outlaw abortions even in the case of incest and rape.
  
• Mitt Romney would eliminate all federal funding for Planned Parenthood, and roll back all the benefits of health reform.
  

Conclusion
So in summary, Obama has been giving women more rights, in both the work place and with their medical needs and equal rights for LGTB people, while Romney literally supports making discrimination against women and LGTB people legal. That kinda sickens me...

Turn in Friday for the Superhero opinions. I don't think there will be any question which way the heroes side on this one though...
~James