You got your choice...Part 1

Yesterday marked the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the court decision that the right to privacy under the due process clause of the 14th amendment extends to a woman's decision to have an abortion. One stipulation is that that same right must be balanced against the state's two interests for regulating abortions: protecting prenatal life and protecting the mother's health.

While this decision is absolutely one to celebrate, even 38 years later, it still leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to women deciding their own reproductive future. Congress in 1976 passed the Hyde Amendment, barring federal funding of abortions (except in the case of rape, incest, or life of the mother) for poor women through Medicare. Since poor women may have many children and cannot afford private insurance, this amendment denies those women (who are most likely on medicare) the finances and the choice to avoid having more children they can't afford. This is just one example of the obstacles still in place to prevent women from accessing safe abortions.

The country remains divided on the issue just as fervently as it was in 1973 and prior. Every year, thousands of anti-choice protesters march on the capital in a self proclaimed "March for Life".

In Dallas, Texas they have there own protest rally to mark the anniversary. Here is a quote from the Dallas News.

Kristen Rodriguez, 22, carried a sign for her son Jacob, 5, that read, “My Mom was a teen mom and she chose me.” She considered abortion herself when she got pregnant as a teen but decided against it.

“There are a lot of teen girls who get pregnant and get abortions, then they regret it,” she said.*

There are a lot who don't regret it, but then you don't hear about those women and girls.

Also from the Dallas News is Joe Martin, senior pastor of the Trinity Church in Dallas, sharing his own story. He said he regretted his part in an ex-girlfriend’s decision to get an abortion when he was 21, and shared how his wife also regretted her abortion at age 18. He now opposes the Roe decision.*

If the pro-life movement were about saving lives they wouldn't waste their time preventing women from making their own reproductive choices; they would do something to either prevent teen pregnancy or encourage women to procreate. They would get poor mothers health care or educate women on the importance of contraceptives. Making abortion illegal is akin to condemning countless number of women to death. Even still, the argument that these women regret their decision to have an abortion MEANS THAT THEY HAD A CHOICE!

The disturbing story of Norma McCorvey (Jane Roe) starts in Louisiana were she was raised by a violent alcoholic mother after her father left before she was old enough to remember him. She got married at 16 and became pregnant. McCorvey gave birth to her daughter Melissa though she left left her husband after claims of abuse. She became pregnant again the following year and gave the baby up for adoption. When she came out to her mother as being sexually attracted to women, her mother disowned her and took custody of Melissa.

McCorvey became pregnant a third time when she was 21 and was advised by friends to claim she had been raped in order to get an abortion. Since there was no documentation or evidence she could not attain the abortion legally nor did she have the option to have an illegal abortion. She was referred to two lawyers and while it took three years for her case to get to the courts she gave birth for the third time and put the baby up for adoption again.

She is now a staunch pro-life advocate, she was a lesbian but isn't anymore, she was baptized as a Roman Catholic and her mind was changed entirely while staring at a poster in a doctors office. She has even written two books. This women is clearly unstable and has been for a very very long time. Sickeningly, the story ends with the same backwards reasoning that since she regrets wanting an abortion, you shouldn't even have the choice to have one.

While it should be obvious to these individuals that pro-choice means that you are entitled to make your own decision, with individuals and stories like these it is clear that they just don't get it. Anti-choice conservatives cry foul that the government is folded into there back pocket yet they are tethering themselves to my uterus. We live in such a deeply entrenched patriarchal society that anti-choice groups masquerade as protecting the sanctity of life when they have no business telling anyone what to do since they only care about the unborn until they are born.


*quotes are taken from: www.dallasnews.com/news/community-news/dallas/headlines/20110122-hundreds-march-in-downtown-dallas-to-protest-roe-vs.-wade-decision.ece

January 22, 1973

Happy Anniversary Roe v. Wade

WTF o.b. tampons?

I'm not crazy. O.B. tampons disappeared. I noticed that the supply seemed to be shrinking in the last 3-4 months but who knows when stores restock things?
Within the last month I cannot imagine how many women stood in front of the feminine hygiene selection going "Where the fuck are my tampons?" Seeing as though there aren't any other applicator free lines available at your local supermarket or drug store; women were forced to buy tampons with applicators or not buy them at all. As a last resort, I bought the cheapest store brand regular tampons in a box of 10 for $1.99. The following day I proceeded to Cambridge Naturals and bought the more expensive organic brand of applicator free tampons.

The website states that there was a temporary supply disruption causing some stores to run out of tampons. They assure us that they will begin restocking the shelves "very soon."

If you cannot wait you can go bid on the last remaining o.b. tampons now being auctioned off on e-bay.

This is not so much suspicious as it is irritating. I claim no conspiracy or ulterior motive. I just want my tampons back please.

Nicaragua

At this time next week I will have spent my first night in Nicaragua. I have never been out of the country before. I was advised to bring "modest" shorts and that pants are appropriate for "most" occasions. It will be a completely new environment with strangers and strange food and no hospitals and I am incredibly excited. I am also terrified. I get to stay with a family for a few nights and I expect it will be an amazing change of scenery from what I am used to. I will report back on what I discover about women in Nicaragua. And of course coffee.