C3

My fellow citizens of America,
    Our Constitution holds that every citizen be treated equally under the law. Every citizen. Our laws are to be blind to all physical differences. The differences between a man and a woman are physical, no more than that. The time has come when people are questioning a woman's right to equality under the law. Republicans casually debate if women deserve equal pay for equal work, equal healthcare, or equal privacy. They think women are less deserving.
   Under the Democratic presidency, healthcare reforms have been passed that prevent insurances from charging more to women simply for being women. Contraception is covered by private insurances with no out-of-pocket costs, making safe-sex available to more groups of people. Our opposition wants to go back to the days when birth control was restricted. Well-woman visits are also available, providing preventative screenings for breast cancer. Men, may I remind you that this is good for YOU. These are your mothers, your wives, girlfriends, sisters, coworkers, daughters, and grandmothers. You love them, and you need to stand with them in defiance against prejudice. When my grandmother got pregnant with my grandfather at 19, she was almost shipped off to the Caribbean to receive a back-alley abortion because a safe procedure was not an option in America. That was 50 years ago. Abortion has been interpreted to be legal for now, but that does not mean that a Republican in office couldn't change that.
    One in every six American women is the victim of attempted or completed rape. That is 17.7 million women. If we were to build a city for these rape victims, it would be the seventeen times the size of Dallas, Texas. The Violence Against Women Act has been expanded in the last four years. We, as a party, vow to never let America go back to the days of blaming the victim. Rape is not okay. Legitimate and rape do not belong in the same sentence. Rape is rape, and offenders will be prosecuted to the harshest degree. It is not so with the Republican party.
 Ladies and gentleman, this issue is not casual. The future of America is greatly at stake. We could become a country where a woman must break the law to get proper health care. Other countries could look at us as an unequal society, a place where women are not valued. It is up to you. I urge you all to do what you can do--vote. Vote for the right choice. Vote for equality. It is up to you.