Wasserman shultz on her battle with Breast Cancer and how she is helping other women. Hello im bonnie erbe welcome to to the contrary a discussion of news and social trends from diverse perspectives. Up first, women voters. Have republicans diffused the socalled war on women . Democrats running for congress are backing away from that rhetoric as the g. O. P. Has now pushed back aggressively against claims that republicans are antiwomen. Closing the gender gap is essential for the republicans in next months elections. Female republican candidates have attacked the notion of the war on women with indignation and disbelief. Gary peters and his buddies want you to believe im waging a war on women. Really . Meanwhile, male g. O. P. Candidates are taking a different approach in their ads many talk directly into the camera. This is a shift from when they were accompanied by wives or women when discussing womens issues. Commentators say these candidates are trying to prove they get it. So congressman norton have republicans diffused the war on women . Not hardly. There are a lot of republicans running who still believe that a woman should have ultrasound before she gets an abortion and disguising their views on contraception. I think the American People are ready for a new conversation one about the economy and foreign affairs. The polls demonstrate that the gender gap is alive and well and that aints going to change until republicans stop trying to close clinics. I think the war on women is silly. The whole thing is silly to me. Silly to you but how come men your response to their besides claims they are trying to close clinics and republicans have not given up on trying to beat back womens rights on Reproductive Health . Its one thing to argue that republicans have policies that do not benefit women. Im saying its one thing to argue that and say that republicans including women like Terri Lynn Land have a war on women. And i think to go beyond silly i find the terminology offensive particularly when we are at war with a terrorist group to be conflating that with war. Right. You know, remember, republicans in the last election were not really running on women. They just said what they really meant. And when that came out of their mouths they made the war on women. Nobody started business they started the fight. First of all we are talking about a few outliars s a grain of truth on war on women . It reenforces the idea that conservatives are in a backwards world but the reality is that most women want to talk about healthcare and temperature and the things that we talk about on the show and they recognize life in america is good for girls and women. And they get tired of hearing how Hostile Society it is when they know its not. People are ready to say lets talk about the issues about bringing down my grocery bill and gas bill and choosing what school i send my children to. Those are the things that women care about. And i dont know if republicans have gotten there but that is how they will get the vote back. This is not about rhetoric but policy and this is about the fact that republicans consistently on both the federal level and the state levels are acting aggressively at every turn to restrict access to abortion, restrict access to contraception and slow down the violence would you agree maybe because there have not been outbursts this issue is not as big of an issue as two years ago. I disagree with that. If you look at in coldoll right now, the governor race and the senate race is largely being focused on the issue of abortion not just contraception but abortion. You have the candidate for governor saying he believes an iud [inaudible] is not true and it should not be covered. You have the Senate Debate between the two candidates with largely focused on abortion. Again this is something that voters care about because the views are extreme and until the republicans find a new hobby focus on the economy instead of what is happening inside womens bodies but i wonder right now, everybody is saying the election is all about the ground game and getting out the vote. And voter turnout is expected to be low. Which would mean more republicans going to the polls than democrats who are kind of you know, fatigued over the political wrangling that goes on. So is that why would you say thats why this seems at least on the surface to have fizzled out as an issue this time . Again, i dont think it seemed to have fizzled out at all. Its still in the newspapers everyday. These issues. But i do think we need to look at the broader agenda of the Republican Party and the candidates. Its also sad. Recently i reported for rh reality check on a new effort of main Street Partnership a republican group. That had women to women and do speaking tours in the areas where the gender gap is pronounced like North Carolina and that senate race and the founder of the group said that you know, first and foremost she was asked about what issues they were going to talk about and she said suntan lotion. They dont know how to talk to women. I dont know. Im going to North Carolina on monday to speak to women and i will talk about our side has to take gender differences seriously. And our side does not yet but they are slowly coming around to it. And i think groups that puts out a positive agenda about women is another step forward. But i think we have to be careful. The reality is when it comes to contraception republicans said lets stop having a debate in terms of healthcare sell it overthecounter. They dont want it in the Affordable Care act. So they think they are diffusing it by saying those of you who need a doctors prescription and many, many women do not need something for one night stand overthecounter. They need a prescription particularly when you see what is coming out now on the differences between healthcare. If you are for selling it overthecounter why are you against a doctor being able to prescribe it . Just about who is paying for it. Its about if you are a woman who needs contraception fine. The majority of americans use and support contraception. Lets decide if they want that health plan but if you do not need it we should allow the people to have the control over the healthcare dollars. Why arent you fighting at the same time to get viagra not covered by health plans . Because no woman women dont need viagra. The more that you can create Healthcare Plan that fits your needs and the familys needs the better option. Gender equality all the Healthcare Plans that dont want to cover Reproductive Health cover viagra and it is the number one selling drug in the country or number two. So why not take and talk about something that isnt medically necessary. Why not get that uncovered . Im fine i think we should make insurance what its supposed to be is insurance. And allow people to make the choices. But you cannot choose that. They were not covering contraception. When you had your plan it wasnt covered and you were paying for it because you pay for Health Insurance and your healthcare is not getting covered. It is absurd to say a woman should be able to pick her plan that covers it. She couldnt. Let us know what you think about this. Follow me on twitter bonnieerbe bonnieerbe and to the contrary. From the war on women to sexual assault. How is the yes means yes trend designed to stop Campus Sexual Assault playing out in individual relationships across the country . Colleges and universities are under pressure from the Obama Administration to end campus rape n new york, Governor Cuomo enacted a state guideline endorsing that only quote yes means yes. This comes after californias governor jerry brown signed an affirmative consent law requiring College Students to obtain quote affirmative conscious and voluntary agreement end quote throughout sexual activity. Confirming consent is an ongoing issue as students sort through the new rules governing sexual contact. Critics question whether this is realistic approach to preventing rape in the future. Will this yes means yes Initiative Work . I do not think it will not because i do not take the issue of rape seriously. It is a criminal act and we need to treat it that way. The problem is people not just on the right and l. A. Times said its difficult to let the government micro manage the bedroom. Its easy to make fun of this. What it is meant to say is that more and more we are asking campuses i will be introducing a bill, that you not only that not only the university but that these matters be referred to Law Enforcement. That is exactly what Law Enforcement will look at. At every step of the way, the u. S. Attorney will say was there consent . No one means that of course and it puts everybody on alert you must go you must understand that this is a process where the woman can say no at any point. Why not have her in her own way, by the way, they yes at every point. How do you do that . Think about it. Making sure you are sure. [all talking at once] you do it you put on your cellphone and you record saying yes at every point. And then its posted in the cloud where, by the way, all that stuff was hacked about the nude pictures of jennifer lawrence. Several problems with the app and i would encourage most other young women not to put your cellphone number in who your sexual partners are. If you are half clothed by the time you are saying yes. You want that picture on the internet . The second biggest problem with the app that people are not talking about what is to stop a young man from having a blackout drunk girl and putting into the information and putting it in his phone and seriously. But he would not have the video of her saying yes at each point which is the biggest part of the app . Its new answer. Someone could put in the information and say there you go when the cops ask them. Creepy, right . Creepy but its also serious because its part of a broader frame which we expect women to hold responsibility for not getting rapedp puts the emphasis on women as victims saying wait, i wanted this. I actually think you know, i think back to my college days and think about if and i had one boyfriend through college. But i mean i think about in the early encounters can i kiss you can i do this to you and that to you . Yes. Yes. Men and women im not saying we dont need to do way more to prevent sexual assault. It is a hugely important issue. Im wondering, how the heck is this going to play out in interpersonal relationships that are confused already. And i think the emphasis is in the right place. You have 15 according to the department of justice statistics women are sexually assaulted in college. Or attempt. So we have to try something but the fact is, its interesting that people like how could this work . And everybody is saying about the milleniums they are talking about themselves. So i dont think its hard to give concept and people grow and change and people are driven to have sex they will figure out how to do it. Its more than verbal consent to proceed further. Do i need to sell anybody on this . Theres more than verbal consent but the yes means yes laws and rules saying you have to it says you have to verbalize it. That is not outthe u. S. Attorney would take that. And that is why enforcement here and let me not hesitate to say the way in which the laws are structured makes them unenforceable because it would be hard to go through the steps. You could not prove that. And one of the bigger concerns is perpetuates that men are always the perpetrators and women are the victims. Sometimes two people do things that maybe they regret later and sometimes one person is bad. But we want to make sure that we are not forcing women and men into stereotypes. And tune in next week because we have a story about women who rape men. It is physiologically possible and the numbers are much greater than anybody ever would have conceived. Back to yes means yes. If its not you are saying then that it wont be followed in a way where the women says yes, yes, to each. And then why and i can understand why everybody is taking it literally. And i think the reason is to send the message out. Really. To accepted the message out that each part of the each component part of the sexual act must have consent. I think that is all it says. And spreading awareness is the big thing. But that also saying as far as college kids and the birds and the bees, i would personally say i do not think theres anything wrong with introducing more steps into getting consent or whether this is a good idea to have sex. Before someone does it. Maybe this will stop people from just jumping into something too fast and take a step back and is this a good idea and maybe they will decide to not do something both people will regret. And its good for women who are drunk they did not consent. If you are drunk, you cannot consent even if you consent. As it should be. Behind the headlines. Florida representative Debbie Wasserman shultz her victorious battle with cancer and how a new initiative quote free the data will help future Breast Cancer patients. I was a Breast Cancer advocate for years. Past legislation as a state legislator to protect women who went through mastectomies. When i was diagnosed with Breast Cancer and was diagnosed as a braca 2 carrier i did not know with all my advocacy that as a ashkenazi jewish woman i was five times more likely to carry the Breast Cancer gene. If i did not know, then we have i knew we had a lot of educating to do. Hasnt advocacy gotten better since then . We have certainly made people aware that there is a risk that one in eight women in america will get Breast Cancer in their life it time. Africanamericans and ashkenazi jewish jews are more likely to carry the mutation increasing the risk of breast and Ovarian Cancer. Your risk of getting Breast Cancer again is high between 4085 and my risk of getting Ovarian Cancer was 4085 by the time i was 50. They urged me to have a double mastectomy. I could have waited. I ended up having seven surgeries over the course of a year including at 41 having my ovaries removed. Tell me what that experience is like . It is life altering. It stops you in your tracks. I told my children and then i knew that i would use my experience and profile to help fill a niche and fill a void and use my experience to raise awareness so that we make it more likely that other young women can catch their cancer early and increase their chances of survival. How do you talk to your kids . My daughter said are you going to be ok . And i said yes. I will be ok. And she said but does that mean i will get Breast Cancer . In the same conversation. And your blood runs cold because i could not tell her no you are not. How young are you going to get your daughters tested . When they would have the test is going to depend where they are in their life. Is marriage imminent . And you know, what are they thinking about in terms of childbearing. But it come indicates things complicates things. As a mother i want to keep that burden from them for as long as possible but i know they will have to know. And its really hard. It really is. And then you know to know that you potentially are passing that on and they had no control over it, its just i cannot tell you what that does. It just tears me up. Debbie Wasserman Shultz personal battle with cancer motivated her to write the early act. It created a National Education and Awareness Campaign targeted at younger women between 1545 years old. Because we know that very often younger women think they are invincible and they are not focused on Breast Health they dont know what is normal for them. So we wanted to make sure that they still get regular exams that doctors because so often doctors when a young woman comes in with a problem with her breast they are dismisssive of young women and send them home and it is probably a cyst and they come back in six months and its Breast Cancer and its often in a younger woman diagnosed at a later stage meaning the treatment is more comprehensive and they are less likely to survive. What is free the data . It encourages women at risk particularly women who have been diagnosed as braca positive to upload their data to the free the data data base and to push publicly to get myriad, the only Company Prior to a u. S. Supreme Court Decision last year that had the rights to administer the braca one and braca two test. The data they have been collecting to free their data and put it into the public sphere so the Healthcare Community can benefit from all that information. Tell me what we could learn if that data were free . When i was diagnosed as braca positive, i was faced with having to make significant life altering decisions to have a double mastectomy and my ovaries removed and seven surgeries with that. And on the basis of a result of one test. And if you had the benefit of having all the data from everyone elses test from all the years of testing, then maybe they could have narrowed down through research that my particular gene was more likely to result in Breast Cancer but not Ovarian Cancer. Maybe my ovaries could have been saved if you could look at the data but we dont. So erin, how important is access to all that data . How can researchers get to it . Yeah, well, the interview with the Congress Woman shows the gravity what we are up against and Breast Cancer the response has been reduced down to putting a pink lid on the groceries or even having teenage boys wearing shirts at school that say i heart boobies and its taken as advancing the cause of fighting Breast Cancer. We need to do three things. One is myriad needs to release this data. This shows some of the worst aspects of having a forprofit driven Health System and that profits are put above people and research and information and that should be widely shared. Healthcare is a human right we should be spreading widely. And another thing Breast Cancer is serious and its not just awareness we need people to have screening and one of the best things to do today with the system would be to have the 23 states that have not expanded medicaid to make healthcare accessible to more people. And with Breast Cancer we have a lot of these Awareness Campaigns that have no teeth we need to see more looking into just Corporate Responsibility and particularly around chemicals and things that were being exposed to which is linked to the crisis. I do not want to undercut how much the Awareness Campaigns and the pink in the Grocery Stores do. Someone my age that was my first exposure to Breast Cancer i didnt know Breast Cancer was an issue and because of susan g. Komen i know more. They have helped raise awareness and i agree with some of your points but i want to make that clear that that Awareness Campaign the pink lids in the Grocery Store are doing a lot to make sure that women are finding about this early. I think you have a good point. You can reach people in different ways. I take your point seriously. Even if one is nfl players. Not that way. And in october. But her early act and her own she is Mother Courage she has three children. She is a colleague, of course. But i never knew it when she was going through the painful operations she never stopped a beat. But to have a young women all kinds of women talking about susan g. Komen but have a young woman which looks young telling young women what they need to know so valuable and rare. I agree. I think there is something upsetting that Breast Cancer seems to touch so many people i can think of several people who are battling this disease and it is a horrible thing and its becoming harder to avoid it. I think that she raises very interesting ethical questions as a society we have to consider this kind of public data is something that on one hand especially who has a father with a disease you can imagine wanting to have all that information. And at the same time thinking goodness, that presents all sorts of problems and questions that we have to consider as a community. If we are ready to do that. Lots to think about. That is it for this edition. Follow me on twitter and visit our website. And whether you agree or think to the contrary see you next week. [ ] funding for to the contrary provided by. The Cornell Douglas foundation. Committed to encouraging stewardship of the environment. Land conservation, watershed protection and eliminating harmful chemicals. Additional funding provided by the colcom foundation. The wallace genetic foundation. The oak foundation. The Carpenter Foundation for a transcript of this episode of to the contrary visit our pbs website at www. Pbs. Org to the contrary. Issue one. Libertarians unleashed. As you can see, for the second year in a row [ cheers and applause ] kentucky senator rand paul won with 31 . Texas senator ted cruz came in second with 11 . Ben carson came in third at 9 . Governor christie came in at 8 . Governor walker came in at 7 . Senator santorum, former senator santorum at 7 and