Let me say this one more time: Sarah Palin is not a feminist. In fact, the fabricated term "conservative feminist" is an oxymoron.
As I said this morning on the Laura Ingraham Show, Sarah Palin calling herself a conservative feminist is like BP calling themselves a corporate environmentalist. You don't get to just pick up that word and use it the way you want it.
I think we can all agree that feminism is about equality. Where we disagree is whether or not "equality" extends to all aspects of a woman's life—including reproductive health choices.
To me and the many other women's rights activists who have spoken out on this subject, claiming to support equality for women—without trusting them to make the most important and personal life decisions—is both absurd and insulting.
Feminism is intrinsically linked to a woman's ability to make the same decisions as a man. Women need to have control over their own important life decisions. It's that simple. If you take that power, that basic right of autonomy, away, you take away a woman's economic viability, personal freedom, and any ability to make her life her own.
True feminism means giving women choices. Anything else is silly putty feminism—stretching the word far beyond all meaning and recognition.
What's ironic is how women like Palin and Fiorina are reaping the benefits of the pro-choice feminist movement. And that's fine...when women have equal representation in public office, we will of course have women on both ends of the political spectrum.
But I find it immensely sad that these women aim to revoke the very rights which afforded them their chance to become successful political figures.
Of course, I can't change that. However, these women don't get to turn around and completely redefine the word feminist. They don't get to steal, mangle, and distort its meaning. Not on my watch, and not on the watch of the many organizations that truly defend women's rights.
Even putting feminism aside, 81% of Americans believe that individuals, not politicians or the government, should have control over their own important life decisions, according to their own circumstances and values.
Government isn't about forcing your own personal beliefs on the masses—and neither is feminism.