Thursday, May 5, 2022

You Don't Have To Be Pro-Abortion To Be For Reprodutive Freedom

 

 

Back in the early '90s while working in the communications department of a non-profit, I remember answering the phone and hearing a man ranting on the other end. He said he was from the Family Research Council__which is against contraceptives being legal and available. 

He was angry that the foundation supported reproductive health initiatives, including long-lasting contraception.

Since the current Supreme Court's leak of their initial draft of overturning Roe v. Wade, I'm reminded of those extreme viewpoints that don't just want to limit reproductive freedom in their own families but want everyone in our country to have to live by their extremist views.

You don't have to be pro-abortion to be for reproductive freedom. Healthcare includes deciding whether and when you are going to start a family. Yes, sometimes "accidents" happen. Some women decide to continue their pregnancies in such cases; others do not.

The fact that others do not want to continue being pregnant means that they may make a decision to end the pregnancy via abortion.

Although I personally have never had an abortion, I am committed to the need to keep abortion access legal in our world. In the end it is the would-be/won't be mother to decide if to become a parent.

Yes, some choose to have the baby and make it available for adoption. However, no one should be forced to do so.

In the end women will do what they must. It is ethical to keep abortion legal so that more lives of pregnant women can be saved.

Whether you think abortion is a sin or unethical, you must acknowledge that saving the life of the pregnant person...some too young to safely deliver, is paramount.

If you don't believe the pregnant person gets to decide, then you are on the side of forced birth...on the side of rapists. If you believe that a female is a vessel to impregnate, then you don't see her as a person. You see her as a less-than.

You can embrace the idea of others making choices that you think you yourself would never, because it is the ethical thing to do.

The angry man who blasted reproductive freedom on the phone was all about controlling others. He was a true believer. A fanatic. Thankfully, he was not in a position to make that decision for everyone else.

Keeping abortion access safe and legal__and encouraging people to choose when to have a family by making contraceptives available__will make its necessity more rare. 

Get out the vote!