Blog for Choice 2007

NARAL (or the National Abortion Rights Action League for those of you not in the know) has asked all bloggers to post a blog in honor of the 34th anniversary of Roe v. Wade.

So here I am, doing it....

They're asking people to write about why they're pro-choice. Most of you will probably stop reading right now. I don't know how well I'm gonna do on this one, so that may not be a bad idea. Most people don't like my political blogs anyhow.

So...leaving all personal experiences aside, because I already wrote about that a couple weeks ago. I'm just going to tell you fine folks why I'm pro-choice.

I had a professor tell me once that I had no idea what it meant to be a feminist because I had always lived in a world with Roe. While I thought that was sort of narrow-minded, I knew what she meant. I was pro-life for a long time because I had the freedom to be...I wasn't sexually active and didn't anticipate having sex till marriage. But life isn't always so cut and dry. Choosing not to have sex doesn't mean someone won't force you. And getting married doesn't mean you should have or will want to have children. It never occurred to me that I would have an unwanted pregnancy, because I lived a pretty sheltered life and didn't have much understanding of the world around me.

But the first time I waited for my period to start after I became sexually active, I knew I was pro-choice. Men will argue that they have a right to get involved in this fight because men have children too. But that's the thing. They don't. Men may help raise children. Men may be fathers. But they do not HAVE children.

The majority of our nation's lawmakers are men, yet men will never understand how it feels to know something could be growing inside you. Something that you do not want. It's like having your body invaded. For girls who become pregnant from rape, it's like being violated all over again.

Women have been terminating pregnancies for centuries. There are herbs that induce miscarriage. There are types of massage that induce miscarriage. And yes, there's the coat hanger and/or cleaning fluid method.

We hear more about coat hangers because that's what women resort to when they're desperate. And because it's taboo to speak frankly about a woman's body and reproductive capabilities and because education in these areas is so lacking, women often become desperate.

It is my belief that abortion should be safe, legal, and rare. We should educate people about their bodies and about contraception so that it doesn't happen often. Not because I think a fetus's life is more important than a woman's, but because abortion isn't a simple decision for anyone. But it should be safe and legal so that women have a place to turn to when they cannot for whatever reason bring a child into the world.

Contrary to popular pro-life rhetoric, women don't just have abortions because they're selfish, sometimes it's the best thing to do for the woman AND her child.

I am pro-choice because I trust women to take make the right decisions for themselves and their bodies. No one knows what you're capable of but you, and no one should have a right to tell you you have to bring a life into the world because a condom broke, or you missed a pill, or some asshole didn't have the decency enough to listen when you said "No."