Pro-life Carly Fiorina objects to paid maternity leave

The reproductive rights of women in the U.S. are currently under attack by the same "pro-lifers" who are the most vociferous against policies that help babies and new mothers.

Republican presidential candidates like Carly Fiorina openly object to the notion of laws guaranteeing paid maternity and paternity leave, which would benefit families greatly, but they never hesitate to profess their love of protecting non-viable zygotes. Her "proud pro-life" rhetoric is as laughable as her unsuccessful stint at Hewlett-Packard.

During an interview with Jake Tapper on "State of the Union," Fiorina states that "for the government to tell others how to do things when the government hasn't gotten its basic house in order is not only ineffective, it's hypocritical."

Remember everyone, the government isn't effective enough to regulate the private sector, but they're crucial in the quest to regulate your private parts! Fiorina seems to think that the corporations are above government regulation, while the feds are entitled to deciding what happens to a woman's uterus.

She continues to dig herself in a deeper ideological hole when she utters that she doesn't "think it's the role of government to dictate to the private sector how to manage their businesses, especially when it's pretty clear that the private sector, like Netflix is doing the right thing because they know it helps them attract the right talent."

In other words, if you're "skilled" labor, you deserve paid leave to take care of your baby. If you're an "unskilled" minimum wage worker, you and your baby can figure it out for yourselves. Bootstraps people!

These right-wing talking points aren't just ideas - they're already being put into practice by businesses. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 39 percent of U.S. private-sector workers don't even have access to any paid sick days. Unsurprisingly, there's a huge disparity among the rich and the poor. Among the top 10 percent of wage earners, 86 percent have paid sick leave, while among the bottom 10 percent, only 22 percent do.

Some might think that the disparity is justified, but that means supporting the idea that our value is not defined by who we are as people, but rather what we do for work. It's a little sick for Fiorina and other conservatives to call themselves pro-life while simultaneously treating the working class like throwaways who don't deserve the same paid time off to take care of their babies or their own health.

Unlike every other developed country, the U.S. has no law that guarantees paid maternity or paternity leave. Under The Family and Medical Leave Act, qualifying workers can take up to 12 weeks of unpaid time off, but it's left up to companies to decide whether or not they pay their workers while they get their personal lives in order.

All anyone has to do is look at the big picture to understand that the pro-life movement isn't very pro-life at all. From cutting food stamps that feed hungry children, to fighting bills that would make it easier for parents to spend time with their kids, each policy is meant to help the corporations that pay for their campaigns and nothing more.

So the next time another highly edited and fabricated video is released by right-wingers looking to close every Planned Parenthood in the country, question what their intentions are. The Republicans in Congress who are up in arms about abortion are simply pandering to their religious base. The reality is that their policies do nothing but neglect the babies they claim they want to protect.