The House Judiciary Committee held a hearing this week on threats to reproductive rights, and while witness lists tend not to be especially noteworthy, in this case, these participants had something important in common:
Ms. Melissa Murray EsqProfessor of Law, NYU School of Law
Ms. Busy PhilippsActor and Advocate
Dr. Yashica Robinson M.D. Medical Director, Alabama Women’s Center for Reproductive Alternatives
Ms. Christina BennettCommunications Director, Family Institute of Connecticut
Ms. Melissa OhdenKansas City, Missouri
Ms. Jennifer DalvenDirector, ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project
Dr. Owen Phillips M.D. The University of Tennessee Health Science Center
Ms. H.K. Gray Activist, Youth Testify
As the above photo makes clear, the common thread tying the witnesses together was gender: they’re all women.
And while that makes sense given the subject matter — American women’s reproductive rights are clearly in jeopardy — the hearing immediately brought to mind a panel assembled by House Republicans in February 2012, when there was a GOP majority in the chamber. The House Oversight Committee, led at the time by then-Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), held a similar hearing on reproductive rights, which featured an opening panel with five witnesses. Each of the five were men. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) asked a good question at the time: “Where are the women? When I look at this panel, I don’t see one, single woman representing the tens of millions of women across the country who want and need coverage for basic preventive health care services.” Soon after, most the Democratic women on the panel left the room in protest. Taken together, they create revelatory bookends, don’t they?
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past." Recommended
