This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon: On Sunday, McCaskill is slated to be on NBC’s “Meet the Press’’ to talk about her efforts to combat sexual assault in the military.
On Friday, McCaskill was in Iowa at an event promoting women candidates – including presidential – which was sponsored by Emily’s List, a political action committee aiding candidates who favor reproductive rights.
And just recently, McCaskill helped raise money for Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis, a Democrat who filibustered an anti-abortion bill.
But McCaskill, D-Mo., says it would be wrong to characterize her as a “women’s-issues senator’’ – although she adds that she understands why some have done so.
Some of the attraction surrounding McCaskill is that her huge – and initially unexpected – victory for re-election last fall centered on reproductive issues after her GOP opponent, Todd Akin, drew headlines – and derision – over his claim that victims of “legitimate rape’’ rarely got pregnant.
Her contest with Akin, she said, offered a stark contrast because he “wanted to make rape victims criminals for wanting to access the morning-after pill.”
Her focus in the Senate on sexual assault and domestic violence, especially in the military, stems largely, she says, from her past as a Jackson County prosecutor.
McCaskill emphasized her other well-known concerns in the Senate that revolve around “financial accountability in the federal government, contracting and consumer protection.”
As a result, “I would argue a notion that I have somehow become a woman’s issues senator. I don’t think that’s an accurate portrayal at all.”
Still, McCaskill acknowledges that she gets a lot of requests for speaking engagements around the country, and some of them do indeed come from groups concerned about reproductive rights and violence against women.
But McCaskill says she’s had to turn down most of them because of her tight schedule and her desire to have some free time with her grandchildren.
She adds, however, that she’s not running away from reproductive rights and is concerned about what she’s seeing in a number of GOP-controlled legislatures, which have tried to curb abortions and target Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest private provider of reproductive services.
“I think there is too much focus on trying to legislate around this issue,” McCaskill said.
