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Feminist Group Won't Support Fiorina Or Whitman

Brooke Matthews |
October 12, 2010 | 3:46 p.m. PDT

Staff Reporter

The Feminist Majority Doesn't Approve of Meg Whitman's Stance on Women's Issues (Creative Commons).
The Feminist Majority Doesn't Approve of Meg Whitman's Stance on Women's Issues (Creative Commons).
The Feminist Majority warned Tuesday that electing Republican Senate candidate Carly Fiorina or gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman could be detrimental to women’s rights.

It might seem strange that a women’s rights group would vocally oppose two female candidates, but the Feminist Majority Foundation said it looks at candidate’s policy rather than just advocating for a woman in politics.

“We are supporting candidates who have pro-woman policy,” said Myra Duran, a national campus organizer for the Feminist Majority. “It doesn’t have to be a woman.”

One of the group's top concerns about Fiorina’s policy is that she “has indicated that if given the chance she would overturn Roe v. Wade, and we don’t want someone in power in the Senate who has that kind of mindset,” Duran said.

The Feminist Majority is also concerned that Fiorina would oppose national health care reform, which could drastically reduce women’s access to preventative health screenings.

"That’s definitely an issue we want to highlight,” Duran said. “Abortion, reproductive health, access to birth control — she probably wouldn’t support [these things].”

And when it comes to Meg Whitman, members of the Feminist Majority raise the same issues.

“We feel that she is on the same platform as Fiorina,” Duran said. “We cannot afford to have them in power.

The Feminist Majority is partnered with Planned Parenthood and is working on a campaign called “Pro-Choice Students for Boxer" to support Barbara Boxer for Senate. Duran said the group feels Barbara Boxer has a positive platform on not only women’s rights issues but also immigration and the environment.

While the Feminist Majority has strong opinions about the candidates, their main hope is that young people get to the polls and vote.

According to Duran, young women 18-24 are highly underrepresented at the polls, and it’s very important that students get educated on the important issues at stake.

“We really have the impact to change the political landscape,” she said.

Editor's note: An earlier version of this story referred to the Feminist Majority as the Feminist Majority Foundation.The two are actually different organizations. The story also stated that the Feminist Majority was working with Planned Parenthood to support Jerry Brown's campaign, but they are actually only working to support Barbara Boxer.

 

Reach Reporter Brooke Matthews here.

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