Okay, so we’ve laid out the parties for you, as well as the candidates. You’re on your way to being informed! But this article is going to be the most important – what it all means for you – a young, college woman. These are the things that should be on your mind that may be affected this election.
We sat down with Dr. Gerald Shuster, of Pitt’s political science department, to get the scoop.
College Loans
Many of the students at Pitt, and many of our readers, have at least some form of financial aid. We discussed in the last article Obama’s achievements in loan reform and his dedication to keeping those students in need of aid in school. On the other hand, Romney thinks that these loans are crippling our government. According to Tim Dickinson in Rolling Stone, the tax plan that Romney currently supports would result in one million college students across the country losing their government tuition help and possibly losing their opportunity to obtain a degree.(1) So how does this affect you? The reality is, depending on who wins, quite a few students could disappear from Pitt next year. Find out what kind of loan you receive. If it’s a Pell grant, it could very easily be taken away from you.
Birth Control
Has your birth control recently become free, or have you heard that it may soon? That’s thanks to Obamacare. Obama’s health care plan requires that many insurers cover the cost of birth control for women, which used to or currently can cost thirty dollars or more every month.
Health Insurance
With Obamacare, you can now stay on your parents’ health insurance plan until you are twenty-six. No need to search out a plan while you’re still in school and working a lousy part-time job with no benefits – you’ll have several years after graduation to find a real career with great benefits. The bill also forbids insurance companies from charging women more for health insurance than men, a practice that was common before Obamacare. In addition, Obamacare makes mammograms free under many insurance plans, and it will no longer be difficult for breast cancer survivors to obtain insurance.(2)
Gay Marriage
Shout out to our LGBTQ readers! Obama wants you to get married! In addition, anyone reading with a gay brother, sister, friend, aunt, uncle, cousin … you will be able to one day attend their wedding if Obama is able to pass the legislation he wants regarding the issue.
Abortion
We are not going to tell you that Obama coming into office for another four years means you’re free to go get an abortion if you need one – that’s not what this is about. Obama is pro-choice, but the likelihood of overturning Roe v. Wade and making abortion completely legal is virtually nonexistent. However, what matters to you in this issue is sympathy – something that Obama has and Romney, under the Republican Party’s instruction, will not. According to Tom Dickinson, Republicans in the past have suggested bills that would “refuse a dying woman an abortion that would save her life.”(1) In addition, Romney’s VP Paul Ryan has co-sponsored legislation in which “federal abortion coverage would be denied to a 12-year-old girl impregnated by a 40-year-old man, unless she could prove she fought back.”(1)
Again, we are absolutely not trying to change your opinion about abortion, whether you are pro-life or pro-choice. We are simply letting you know where the parties stand, and how that will affect you.
Taxes
Now, this is where the Republican Party becomes a better option for the majority of us. There are huge possibilities that, if Obama is reelected, many will keep seeing that big chunk of our paycheck disappearing to the government. That’s the tradeoff with Democrats and Republicans – the Democrats want to help everyone and do great things, but SOMEONE has to pay for it.
Summary
Dr. Shuster believes that for young women, the Democratic Party is going to be a better choice. “If I were female I think I’d be more than a little concerned with some politician trying to determine my morality and my medical care.” But remember, that’s his opinion. We want you to form your own.
Our goal when we set out to write this series was simple – to get YOU to vote. We wanted to inform you so that you would head to that polling station on November 6th confident in your decision. Whether this series has convinced you to side with Mitt Romney or Barack Obama, we simply ask that you take the time out of your day on November 6th in order to decide in what direction you want our country to go. When you press the big red VOTE button, you’ll feel better about yourself and about the direction of your country.
Sources:
Interview with Dr. Gerald Shuster
Tim Dickinson. “Who’s Driving Mitt?” Rolling Stone. 11 Oct. 2012: 32, 34.
http://www.barackobama.com/womens-issues?source=primary-nav
Photo Credit:
http://www.colourbox.com/vector/presidential-election-2012-vector-eps10-…
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