I’m often criticized by those who know my politics because I am against the death penalty but absolutely rabid about protecting the choice of women to have an abortion. The usual argument is that by holding the views that I do, I am protecting the rights of the guilty while supporting the ‘murder of innocents’. Nothing could be further from the truth.
It is, by the way, possible to support women’s right to choose without advocating abortion. Like choosing to have unprotected sex, abortion is and should remain a choice. This doesn’t mean that it’s the choice I want anyone to make, but just like free speech, I don’t have to like it to support it.
When the REAL issues are lost in the dumbed-down political rhetoric of the day, we all lose and that is happening on a daily basis when it comes to women, their rights to control their own bodies, and the blind followers of inflammatory and meaningless rhetoric.
Here are some facts: The abortion rate is DECLINING and has been for years. There are lots of theories as to why that is, but no one seems to get that having a right to choice doesn’t automatically translate to having a right to an abortion. It just means we get to choose.
Imagine being a single woman, independent and on your own. You come home from work, have dinner, watch a little TV, and climb into bed for the night. You roll over and look straight into the face of the entire Supreme Court, your Senator, Congressman and the President of the United States — all men. That is exactly what is happening every time there’s yet another backend effort to undo Roe v. Wade. Here in California, the most recent effort was disguised as a medical disclosure law that had a tiny little clause that defined “life”. Fortunately, it was defeated but not by much.
Supporting a woman’s right to choose does not make me a murderer. NOT supporting a woman’s right to choose, on the other hand, just might. Let’s not find out.
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