Red states have been waging war against their female residents for years. Texas has taken the leading role in an attempt to keep women in a secondary role, and allow men to make decisions related to their physical and mental health.

Texas has forced the closing of numerous Planned Parenthood Clinics in more rural areas. The state government, controlled by Republicans, have passed numerous laws with the intention of removing first amendment rights from women.

First of all, let me offer all of you the truth about Planned Parenthood. Contrary to Republican lies, the organization is not primarily an abortion clinic; it is a woman’s reproductive health clinic. For more than 100 years this non-profit organization has assisted low-income and poor women with reproductive health information and education. If you Google Planned Parenthood, you will learn about it’s efforts to assist women with birth control, sex education, teen pregnancy, abortion counseling, international family planning, and other reproductive health issues related to women’s overall healthcare.

Under the direction of the Christian religious right, Republicans have spread numerous lies about the mission statement of Planned Parenthood.

The women of Texas have a new and anonymous benefactor. This individual has donated nine-million dollars to open two Planned Parenthood Clinics in west Texas; the poorest part of the state.

We know today that Trump’s ridiculous red hats were a pseudonym for ‘make America white again.’ Our nation will never be great as long as racism and bigotry are allowed to flourish. We will never be a great country until women have total equality. As long as men continue to dominate their women, and refuse to accept them as their equals including wages, the right to decide the health of their own bodies, and their abilities to lead our nation, America will not be great.

Trump and his Republican failures continue to believe that women have a single purpose; to serve the needs of men.

Here are some facts which prove that not only is our nation less than ‘great,’ our people are not represented in Washington.

The average age in America is 37.8 years of age. The average age in congress is 60 years of age. Women compose 50.9 percent of our population, but only 19.4 percent of congress. Until more young men and women are elected to the House and Senate, the majority is not represented in our nation’s Capitol. Until one-half of congress is composed of women, our nation’s people are not represented in our nation’s government.

You’ve heard this before, but it’s time for change. The revolution is scheduled to begin on November 6, 2018. Send all Republicans home and take your country back. I urge women and all of our younger voters to consider running for local, state, and federal office in 2020. File now, and began organizing. The old, white men in Washington have failed us for far too long. You are the ‘change’ we keep hearing about.

Op-ed by James Turnage

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