What a difference time makes.

Arguably the most important women's act of the last presidential term was the "partial birth abortion act" of 2003, banning Intact Dilation/Extraction. (The term partial birth abortion is a political and marketing one, meant to stir emotions). This is a procedure used only in the absolute most extreme cases to save the mothers life. According to a medical study, last year, it was performed in less than 0.017% of all births. Yet the term is bandied about as if its a common occurrence. Many OBGYN's go their entire career and never see them performed. However, the republicans felt it important enough to enact a federal ban, so they passed one in 2003. Here is the signing ceremony:
What do you notice? More importantly, for a bill that dictates a woman's rights and tells her that if she is unlucky enough to be struck with pre-eclampsia, that she's doomed to death, what do you not see? Thats right. A single woman. In fact, you only seem to see fat, old, white men.

Fast forward six years to last week, when a genuinely important issue, pay equity, was tackled. The Lilly Ledbretter Pay Equity Act of 2009 allows a woman to sue her employer if she finds out she's being paid less than a man. It is so named for a woman who worked at Goodyear for her entire life, and then found out she was being paid less than the men. Far less. (It is estimated that the average lifetime difference can be 400 thousand dollars). So she attempted to sue, and was thrown out of court because she didn't sue within 90 days of her hire. Now, look at the signing of this bill:

Notice the difference?