Today, the SC New Democrats issued the following release.
For Release: 08/28/12
Contact: Phil Noble (SCND)
843.296.1490, phil@scnewdemocrats.org
Contact: Byron Wellman (Rep. Mia Butler Garrick)
803.466.7560
SC Gov. Nikki Haley ‘a Loyal Foot Soldier in the Republican War on Women’
With South Carolina governor Nikki Haley preparing to step into the national spotlight tonight as a featured speaker at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, one of her home state’s largest independent progressive organizations, the SC New Democrats, is asking the country to judge their governor not on her rhetoric but on her record, particularly with regard to women’s issues.
“Gov. Haley is a telegenic politician, and I have no doubt that she’ll give a good speech,” said State Representative Mia Butler Garrick (D-Richland). “But facts are stubborn things. And the facts in this case show that Gov. Haley has been a loyal foot soldier in the Republican War on Women since the day she got to Columbia. It’s a sad day in South Carolina when our first female governor’s actions directly and deliberately set women back at a time when we need to be working together to move our state and each other forward.”
The New Democrats offered several examples in support of their claim.
In 2012, Gov. Haley vetoed all funding for the state’s fifteen rape crisis centers, calling them “special interests.” The governor’s veto was eventually overridden by a margin of 110-0 in the State House and 39-2 in the Senate. [LINK]
In 2012, on ABC’s The View, Gov. Haley dismissed the idea that American women are concerned about birth control. “Women don’t care about contraception. They care about jobs and the economy and raising their families and all of those things…The media wants to talk about contraception,” she said. [LINK]
In 2012, Gov. Haley reversed her previous position on HPV vaccinations by vetoing legislation to provide parents of girls with information about the disease and its prevention, as well as free vaccinations upon parental request. [LINK]
In 2011, Gov. Haley dismissed Post and Courier reporter Renee Dudley as “that little girl” on Laura Ingraham’s national radio program, after the reporter had revealed details of Gov. Haley’s lavish spending practices on a taxpayer-financed trip to Paris. The Post and Courier’s Melanie Balog replied: “No working professional should ever demean another working professional like that. Let alone in public. Let alone on broadcast radio. And especially, certainly, absolutely not the state’s first female governor talking about another woman.” [LINK]
In 2011, Gov. Haley replaced one of the state’s leading businesswomen, Darla Moore, on the University of South Carolina Board of Trustees with a comparatively undistinguished campaign contributor. In addition to being one of USC’s most distinguished graduates, Ms. Moore has donated more than $70 million to the university since 1998. Today, only three of the Board’s twenty-two members are female, including ex-officio Chair Gov. Haley. [LINK]
In 2010, then-Rep. Haley sponsored “personhood” legislation that would have outlawed all abortions, as well as in vitro fertilization treatments and hormonal birth control. [LINK]
In 2007, as a member of the state legislature, then-Rep. Haley voted to require women to undergo a forced ultrasound twenty-four hours before terminating a pregnancy. [LINK]
“You know, when you see it all laid out like that, it really is a shocking record,” said SC New Democrats president Phil Noble. “In fact, if you told me that was [Missouri Rep.] Todd Akin’s record, I’d believe you. And that can’t possibly be the kind of comparison the Romney people were looking for when they tapped Gov. Haley to be a featured speaker at their convention.”
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The SC New Democrats are an independent reform group founded to bring big change and real reform to South Carolina politics and government. To learn more, visit scnewdemocrats.org.
What a horrid litany, and please, from now on give this site the capacity to post to social networks — it’s most exciting for me when out of state friends make comments. Excellent getting this concise, scary list. Keep it up, no one can believe we’re still living in the dark ages. We’ve quite the reputation here in SC. Thanks.
You can just copy the URL from the space at the top of your browser.
Carroll – just copy the link at paste it in your comment box and press enter and it appears!! Just did it!
Don’t forget she is going to BLOCK health care for children too!!
I am born and raised in SC and her actions don’t surprise me. It’s sad to say but the kind of reputation the state of SC has is true. People like that and the other people we vote in to these positions really don’t care about the average citizen, let alone women. Sometimes I’m ashamed to say I’m from SC when I see things like this. Thank you for sharing and I hope in the future we will be able to share these types of links.
I agree with Shanice, I to am ashamed to say I am from South Carolina. This state is becoming a joke. Yes they would love to put some back in the dark ages. But that will never happen.. I knew she was a let me say in a kind way not for the average person.. Such a shame. I lived in this state but not proud of it. A person like her and others are our worst nightmare…
I would like to congratulate our governor and all the republican office holders in SC. W are one of the few states, if not the ONLY, with 100% republican elected office holders. It’s just noteworthy how well these republicans have handled the state’s economy. After four years of leadership we’re near the top in the nation FOR THE UNEMPLOYED. Thanks GOP and please keep it up so all of America can see how hollow your platform really is.
It time for people of South Carolina to wake up and stop trusting the G.O.P. Some Republican are on the ballots now for the upcoming elections and should not be. . . Thanks Grand Ole Party for keeping us near the top in the Nation for the unemployed, you and your do nothing Congress- Please RNC 2012 TELL THE TRUTH . . .
“Sometimes I’m ashamed to say I’m from SC when I see things like this.”
I know the feeling, Shanice! After being born and raised here, I spent 25 years in the Washington, DC area and it’s a shock to come back here. I was not aware that Haley had sponsored a Personhood bill!! That’s shocking enough, but for a woman to do so is unthinkable! You mean Ms. Haley has never taken birth control pills in her life? Where’s the 10 kids she should have by now!? That stretches credibility.
Personhood would ban almost all forms of birth control as well as abortion. Even in Mississippi the voters REJECTED it completely. I just learned today that they have brought this issue before the voters of Colorado THREE TIMES! I guess they haven’t learned that NO means NO!
These issues are like cockroaches – you can’t get rid of them!
Here’s a site I found that has more information for your friends:
Rachel Maddow
Women’s Reproductive Rights Under Threat From Paul Ryan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmdFJBH5UAc&feature=related
And here is a site that tracks these issues in-depth:
http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/
Romney SAID that he SUPPORTS the Personhood Amendment and WOULD SIGN the Personhood Amendment into LAW IF he were elected! He also said he would abolish Roe v. Wade, and Planned Parenthood! Republicans are a menace to women!
Of course, today he could say something completely different. But as a bishop he tried to block a church member who needed an abortion to save her life, against the wishes of not only her family (she had 4 children) and even Romney’s higher-ups in his church! He also tried to get a single mother to give up her child for adoption, JUST BECAUSE she was a single mother!
I am happy to tell you that the first woman is alive and well, and the second mother kept her child! Romney’s history on women’s issues is hostile and malevolent, regardless of what he says in order to win elections!
Here are sources for the above stories:
http://www.alternet.org/election-2012/mitt-romneys-heartless-advice-woman-whose-pregnancy-might-have-killed-her?paging=off
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/geoffrey-dunn/mitt-romney-mormon-women_b_1956568.html
Please feel free to copy this email and send it to your women friends, the men who love them, and anyone who has a mother, sister, daughter, niece….our LIVES are at stake!