Six years ago today, during my senior year of high school, my friend and I took BART into San Francisco to attend a rally that was countering an anti-Roe Vs. Wade rally (this monumental case was passed on Jan. 21, 1973). Turns out, our rally was bigger than theirs. I remember our group marching peacefully alongside their group, each mass of people chanting a catchy slogan. At the end, there were so many members of the pro-Roe V. Wade group that we sat down on the street, preventing the others from marching any further. Those against Roe v. Wade were forced to go home.That was six years ago, before Dr. Tiller’s murder and Sarah Palin and John Boehner and other high profile politicians who would rather work to eliminate a woman’s right to choice than fix poverty in their districts and support the troops overseas. The rhetoric around a woman’s right to choose has gotten so severe in this country that for the first time, despite having a blog for many years, I have chosen to participate in NARAL Pro-Choice America’s campaign, Blog for Choice. Each year, NARAL launches this campaign on the anniversary of Roe V. Wade’s passing and asks men and women alike a question surrounding choice. (Disclaimer: I once interned for NARAL and spent the first few weeks of my internship tracking blog posts from this very campaign. So current NARAL intern reading this post…hang in there! It’s a big job!)
I know many of my friends and family may not share my views on what I recognize is such a divisive issue. So I hope you’ll continue to read and enjoy future posts, even if this one bothers you. I know from experience that my post will not change your mind, so that’s not what I’m trying to do. It's just something I can't be silent about.
This year’s question is: Given the anti-choice gains in the states and Congress, are you concerned about choice in 2011?
My answer is a resounding YES.
Here are just two reasons:
1. At the Jon Stewart rally, NARAL passed out stickers that said: “Vote Pro-Choice. Politicians Make Crappy Doctors.” While the doctor who went to Georgetown Medical School and the politician who attended Georgetown Law may have gone out drinking together on M St., chances are that’s where the similarities in their education ended. I want my politicians to protect my constitutional rights, and for my doctors to protect my life and well-being.
2. The fact that this new congress’ first act of business, during a time with record unemployment, record-high American hunger, and two wars causing an enormous deficit, was to repeal a healthcare bill which, among other things, protected a woman’s right to choose is appalling. While this repeal will almost certainly fail in the senate, the fact that the Senate is just so narrowly controlled by people who are pro-choice shows the dangerous shift American voters are making in the belief that American women are not equipped to make their own decisions when it comes to their healthcare.
Whether you would ever get an abortion or even whether you think people should, being pro-choice goes beyond the actual act of abortion. Being pro-choice is about not putting medical decisions in the hands of politicians; it’s about male politicians in power deeming women capable enough of being in control of their own bodies and female anti-choice politicians recognizing they are able to do so, too; it’s about keeping the government in the realm of politics; it’s about preventing unsafe pregnancies; it’s about protecting those who will have the procedure, illegally or legally, who deserve a sterile operation rather than a metal hanger; it’s about giving a rape or incest survivor another option; it’s about being open to comprehensive sexual education for our pre-teens and teens in order to prevent unintended pregnancies resulting in abortion, because abstinence education leads to abortion; it’s about, if this choice is taken from me, what will go next?
I am pro-choice. I am not anti-life.
Learn more about a woman's right to choose.
