crossposted at amplify

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton went before the House Foreign Affairs Committee yesterday, and let me say, she rocked! If you want to watch the whole hearing, or clips, go here. 

I have to say that my favorite parts were in her exchanges with Rep. Smith, Rep. Fortenberry, and Rep. Inglis. They tried to challenge her on international family planning and the administration's stance on abortion, and she basically owned them. Some choice quotes-

In response to Rep. Smith's and Fortenberry's questions on how she could admire Margaret Sanger (a leader of the birth control movement in the US) when Sanger also advocated eugenics, Clinton said:

Well, Congressman, let me say, with respect to your comments about Margaret Sanger, you know, I admire Thomas Jefferson. I admire his words and his leadership, and I deplore his unrepentant slave-holding. 

In response to Rep. Smith's comments challenging the inclusion of safe abortion in reproductive health services, Secretary Clinton shot back:

 We, obviously, have a profound disagreement...We happen to think that family planning is an important part of women's health and reproductive health includes access to abortion, that I believe should be safe, legal and rare. I've spent a lot of my time trying to bring down the rate of abortions and it has been my experience that good family planning and good medical care brings down the rate of abortion. Keeping women and men in ignorance and denied the access to services actually increases the rate of abortion.

 But I do think the best part was when she said this, followed by a round of applause from the audience:

We are now an administration that will protect the rights of women, including their rights to reproductive health care.

We have great leadership in Secretary Clinton. Now let's get some work done!

crossposted at amplify