Feminism has done its share of both good and bad things for this country.

Feminism gave women the right to vote. Feminists are responsible for the legalization of birth control, and they have even made it possible for a woman to advance professionally if she chooses to do so.

On the other hand, they still divide man and woman. Feminists often want us to feel as if we are still in the 1800s and they are being truly discriminated against.

But what a well-known group of feminists is doing now is down right appalling.

The Houston Area National Organization for Women has now decided to stand behind and give support to a cold-blooded killer.

The NOW group, along with the American Civil Liberties Union and others, is rallying for support of Andrea Pia Yates.

Yates is the woman who admitted to drowning her five children in Texas earlier this summer.

Not only did she drown them all, she had to chase down the oldest one, who was 7, and drag him back into the bathroom in order to drown him.

Why would a group who supports women choose to support a child-killer?

To them, it’s not that this lady killed five kids. NOW claims this lady is about to become a victim of incarceration or the “evil” death penalty.

We have all heard the crock about how much she suffered from postpartum depression. You know, that horrible mental illness that results in the death of thousands of kids every year.

I will admit this lady is sick. You would have to be in order to kill your own children. But that doesn’t mean I am going to start a defense fund for a murderer, like NOW and other groups have.

And it doesn’t end at the defense fund. On Sept. 11, NOW, along with the other groups, will hold a candlelight vigil at the Harris County Jail, where Yates is being held.

I know NOW is a group that tries to keep the feminist movement alive, but this crosses the line.

This is when you direct your focus to the children who were killed, the real victims.

If NOW wanted to get involved with this case, they should have started a fund for the children’s funeral.

This does nothing for the feminist movement whatsoever. All it does is push those who aren’t in full support of the movement away from the movement altogether. People are not about to support a child killer just because she is a woman.

Feminists, think about this. Is this what you support? Do you think a woman who admitted to brutally killing five children should get off the hook?

NOW suggests she needs medical help rather than being sent to prison or being executed.

Getting her medical help sounds all fine and dandy, but what about when she forgets to take her medication? Should we let her off when she kills someone else?

I wonder where this group draws the line.

What if this lady would have killed one of their family members? Would they still think she needs medical help? I doubt it.

This is one of the problems with some feminist groups, like NOW. The truth is they are only helping this woman because she is a woman.

If this was a man in the same situation, the group would have nothing to do with him. They are as sexist as they claim men are.

NOW, just realize this woman brutally killed her five children. She knew what she was doing when she chased down her youngest child and proceeded to drown him. She deserves what ever she gets.

Zach Calef is a sophomore in journalism and mass communication from Cedar Rapids. He is an assistant news editor of the Daily.