“Further unsettling is the detachment with morality from pro-choice supporters. What happened to the coda of “Safe, legal and rare?” When did it become, “Safe, legal and my goddamn-given-right?””—
I Can See New York City From My House: “I’m angry too,” but…
When people kept getting in the way of my goddamn-given-right. The PP I go to to pick up my BC pills every month? Surrounded by high gates with black tarp wrapped around it and intense security. To even get to the clinic you have to be buzzed through three sets of doors. Why? There’s always protesters lining the streets/sidewalks. It’s intimidating enough just going to pick up my BC.
It became my goddamn-given-right when people started KILLING DOCTORS AND NURSES because of it. Because it is their goddamn-given-right to practice legal medicine in a safe and effective manner.
It became my goddamn-given-right because the people who control the laws of this country, at least one major group of them, can apparently be bought with the argument that it ISN’T my goddamn-given-right to do what I want with my body.
Pro-choice is just that - pro-CHOICE. As in, “choose what you want to do with your body.” And leaving out funding for a medical procedure that can and does save women’s lives every year? That’s despicable. Especially because the people who won’t be able to afford them are the same people who already don’t have health insurance and therefore can’t file claims to cover the procedure.
In my ideal world? Abortions wouldn’t be necessary. Everyone would have access to affordable birth control and knowledge about safe sex practices. People would be paid a living wage so if they DID get pregnant by accident they would be able to support themselves and their baby. Both men and women could get parental leave so they wouldn’t have to worry about losing their job when they actually have to push the baby out. Hell, in my perfect world you could just incubate the babies in external wombs so you can just come by and visit and say hey every so often for 9 months until you can take your baby home.
That’s not the reality, however, and it’s really easy to put your morality on someone else when you CAN afford an abortion without insurance coverage and don’t have to worry where your next meal is coming from or “What the hell am I going to do since my babysitter is sick and if I miss this shift I’m going to get fired?”
Katie, your righteousness shines like the full, white moon on a dark night.
Also, allow me to throw out the sobering statistic that abortion services are currently unavailable in 87% of US counties according to the Guttmacher Institute.
