9-06-08, 9:45 am

John McCain is no friend of women. Yes, there were media reports a couple of months back that revealed he has publicly called Cindy McCain the 'c' word, and in August, he offered her up as a potential participant in a topless bikini contest at a biker rally, but since the McCain campaign has ordered the media to leave his personal life out of the discussion, let's look at his political record on issues relating to women.

First, John McCain thinks gender-based pay discrimination is imaginary and opposes legislative efforts to close the gap. This year he skipped a vote in the Senate on the Fair Pay Act, which would have strengthened women workers' ability to sue employers who practice pay discrimination. Echoing George W. Bush, McCain explained his failure to do his job by telling women to get more 'education and experience' in order to get equal pay. McCain doesn't understand that women as a whole are the most educated segment of US society. He appears to be confused about the fact that cases of gender-based pay discrimination are about gender, not experience.

John McCain has a proven record of embracing the ultra-right ideology that has served as the basis of the Bush administration's policies rather than any interest in women's health needs.

Like Bush, McCain has long opposed legislation that would have helped prevent unintended pregnancies and reduce the need for abortions.

He voted against requiring insurance companies that cover prescription drugs like Viagra to also cover prescription birth control equally. When asked about this particular issue in July, McCain appeared confused and couldn't recall where he stood on the matter. He admitted to not giving it much thought, despite having voted on it in the Senate.

He supported Bush administration-ordered gag rules imposed on family planning organizations in other countries that might include information on abortion and birth control as part of their educational materials. In lock-step with Bush, McCain voted to cut or eliminate funding for the UN Population Fund, which provides poor women in other countries information and access to birth control only. (The program does not provide abortions.)

McCain voted with Bush and other Republicans to terminate the Title X family planning programs that give women a range of health care services from birth control to breast and cervical cancer screenings.

On the issue of the Bush administration's failed abstinence-only sex education programs funded by taxpayer dollars, McCain agrees with Bush that young people need not be taught scientifically sound ways to protect themselves from exposure to sexually transmitted diseases or prevent unwanted pregnancies.

On the question of a woman's right to choose when to be pregnant, John McCain agrees with George W. Bush that the government should intervene in a woman's bedroom and in her private consultations with her doctor and overturn the right. He voted 125 times against the right to choose during his career. He support George W. Bush's extremist appointments of John Roberts and Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court, and has said he would appoint people just like them.

He has repeatedly voted against funding that would have given greater access to abortion services, and opposed the use of federal Medicaid funds for abortions – even in cases of incest or rape. He joined George W. Bush and voted to flat out deny deployed US military women access to abortion services, even when they wish to use their own money for the purpose.

John McCain voted against new funds for law enforcement programs designed to protect women from domestic violence such as the Office of Violence Against Women and the Center for Missing and Exploited Children. He opposed grants to programs that help children exposed to domestic violence, citing such funding as wasteful, in his now customary 'straight talk' mode.

From equal pay to domestic violence, from health care to family planning, John McCain thinks he knows what's best for women. His political record shows that a McCain administration would be no different than George W. Bush. McCain's record prompted Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, to correctly note in a speech at the Democratic convention, that 'women voting for John McCain is like chickens voting for Col. Sanders.'