Ken Starr’s investigation into the president’s sex life has sparked cries from the White House that Starr is invading Clinton’s privacy. These claims ring hypocritical to many women’s rights activists. Clinton’s Welfare Reform Act includes provisions for establishing paternity and requiring child support that women’s advocates describe as harsh and invasive. In some cases poor unmarried mothers must tell judges or welfare officials the names of the men they have slept with. Advocates say that if women refuse to answer these questions, under the Welfare Reform Act, they can be denied food stamps, Medicaid or welfare.

Guests:

• Suri Duitch, Staff Associate for the Health and Mental Health Program at the Citizens’ Committee for Children, talks about how the practice of home inspections has expanded in parts of New York to Medicaid recipients
• Gwendolyin Mink, Professor of Politics at University of California at Santa Cruz, and author of the book Welfare’s End, Cornell University Press and Chair of Women’s Committee of 100, fighting welfare reform.
• Mimi Abramovitz, author of the books Regulating the Lives of Women: Social Welfare Policy from Colonial Time to the Present and Under Attack, Fighting Back: Women and Welfare in the United States.

Related links:

• Whitehouse Welfare Reform page
• Handsnet–Welfare Reform Watch