Today I join hundreds of other bloggers around the nation to share why I am pro-choice. Please forgive if this does not flow as well as I would like – I'm not feeling 100% today.
Blog for Choice Day is a chance to raise the profile of reproductive rights issues in the blogosphere and the media, and to let everyone know that a woman's right to choose is nonnegotiable.
Why do I support a woman's right to choose?
I believe that our society has been structured on principals of men exerting ownership over women, but that is not necessarily how the law has been structured. Thus I believe that much of dialogue around choice/life is about women being free to make their own choices, not about unborn children. Choice is about power and control, something our
society does not easily impart to women. Thankfully, not all men fall into this trap and, sadly, too many women do.
I also believe that most people who are pro-life REALLY are anti-choice if you look at the sum total of their political stances and personal actions to “protect life.” Displaying a bumper sticker is not the same thing as becoming a foster parent or donating to child abuse prevention organizations. Waving a dead fetus is not the same thing as cradeling a
baby born addicted to cocaine or holding the hand of a 14 year pregnant girl facing her rapist in court. Confronting clients at women's health clinics is not the same thing as
teaching young men to value and respect women (and themselves) or
speaking up when they don't.
Perhaps I focus to much on what the other side does or fails to do. The hypocrisy around respecting life saddens me and sickens me, especially given that I work every day with children that are not being cared and tended for as they should. Children who need society to step up and provide their families with adequate resources to parent effectively and children who sometimes need someone to step in and parent them directly.
Choice is about power and control. I am in control of my body and my reproductive decisions. I will not willingly relinquish that power.
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Excellent post. Reading it made me want to stand up and cheer!
Bravo!
Speaking of 'christian' men who want to control women's bodies, I found an update on rescue pittsburgh:
Parente Found Guilty on Two Out of Three Charges, Appeal Set for February 13th, 2007
Joseph Parente, Director of Rescue Pittsburgh, has been found guilty in Magisterial District Court on two out of three citations related to amplified sound. The rulings have been appealed to the Court of Common Pleas and are scheduled to be heard Tuesday, February 13th, 2007. Please keep us in your prayers.
I left a comment that will be posted after the blog owner approves it. Joe probably will not allow my comment-but I will be praying for him to be brought to justice.
You are right on to focus on the hypocrisy of the pro-lifers. I think it is powerful that you speak as a pro-choice woman working with those children discarded by their parents or otherwise let down by our social institutions.