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Leaving this one public, since people might want to read it who are not on my friends' list.
I am pro-choice. I support legal abortion, contraception, and honest sexual education.
Why do so many people have a hard time understanding this? Especially some of the men I interact with, a majority of whom are in the military.
A woman's body should belong to the woman. (Note that I say should, because I think we can all come up with enough examples that prove we do not entirely own our bodies.)
What happens in our bodies should be our decision. I am not saying that the men involved should not have a chance to voice their opinion. On the other hand, women and men need to be upfront with each other before sex. The men who complain they don't have a choice in the choice question are missing the point. They DO have a choice, and that is to sleep with a woman who shares your views on the subject. In other words, yes, you should be discussing sex before you are having it.
If something goes wrong during a pregnancy, who will deal with the immediate physical repercussions? The woman.
There is also this simple fact. If we, as women, do not control what happens in our own bodies, what CAN we control? A woman's reproductive life touches on all other aspects of her life - the amount of money she contributes to family support, her education, her safety, and her health.
We are not simply incubators for another generation. Women exist for more than our wombs and our breastmilk.
Yet, increasingly, there are restrictions on reproductive rights. On the right to a safe, legal abortion. On the right to a contraceptive (anyone who's ever tried to get EC can vouch for this one). We live in a world where pharmacists can refuse us medication because they "don't agree with it", in a world where Viagra can be covered under insurance and contraceptives are not, in a world where elements of our government are pushing "abstinence only" sex ed on our schools, despite studies that show issues with its effectiveness.
If we do not guard our rights, this generation - the one born after Roe v. Wade, the one that has never known a world where women died in back alley abortions on a fairly routine basis - will see us lose their rights.
Contact your representatives, and let your voice be known. Once these rights are lost, getting them back will be next to impossible.
I am pro-choice. I support legal abortion, contraception, and honest sexual education.
Why do so many people have a hard time understanding this? Especially some of the men I interact with, a majority of whom are in the military.
A woman's body should belong to the woman. (Note that I say should, because I think we can all come up with enough examples that prove we do not entirely own our bodies.)
What happens in our bodies should be our decision. I am not saying that the men involved should not have a chance to voice their opinion. On the other hand, women and men need to be upfront with each other before sex. The men who complain they don't have a choice in the choice question are missing the point. They DO have a choice, and that is to sleep with a woman who shares your views on the subject. In other words, yes, you should be discussing sex before you are having it.
If something goes wrong during a pregnancy, who will deal with the immediate physical repercussions? The woman.
There is also this simple fact. If we, as women, do not control what happens in our own bodies, what CAN we control? A woman's reproductive life touches on all other aspects of her life - the amount of money she contributes to family support, her education, her safety, and her health.
We are not simply incubators for another generation. Women exist for more than our wombs and our breastmilk.
Yet, increasingly, there are restrictions on reproductive rights. On the right to a safe, legal abortion. On the right to a contraceptive (anyone who's ever tried to get EC can vouch for this one). We live in a world where pharmacists can refuse us medication because they "don't agree with it", in a world where Viagra can be covered under insurance and contraceptives are not, in a world where elements of our government are pushing "abstinence only" sex ed on our schools, despite studies that show issues with its effectiveness.
If we do not guard our rights, this generation - the one born after Roe v. Wade, the one that has never known a world where women died in back alley abortions on a fairly routine basis - will see us lose their rights.
Contact your representatives, and let your voice be known. Once these rights are lost, getting them back will be next to impossible.
