The Birmingham News ran its annual "Roe v. Wade is bad and women are stupid" editorial today. I've gotten to the point that I don't even get mad at them any more, because it's the same old stuff. Abortion kills babies. Women are idiots. Just Trust Us.
Well, I have decided that I am beyond pro-choice. I am pro-abortion. Perhaps a stupid thing to say on the Internets, but damn it I'm tired. I was annoyed when NARAL changed their name from National Abortion Rights Action League to a meaningless acronym. I think "pro-choice" is a weak and meaningless word and "right to choose" is a meaningless phrase. We gave power to the forced-birth advocates (I will not call them pro-life because they're not) when we stopped claiming abortion, and now we're letting them set the terms of the debate.
There shouldn't even be a debate. Abortion is a medical procedure. Any woman who gets pregnant should have access to an abortion if she wants one, and I don't care why. It's none of my business. It's not the government's business, and it's not some sidewalk preacher's business either.
And, you anti-abortion folks who might actually read this, remember - if you think abortion should be illegal "except" - except for rape victims for example - they YOU are pro-abortion. You just think the government should be making a decision instead of the individual.
This is the letter to the editor that I sent in to the Birmingham News. We'll see if they print it.
I gladly celebrate the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision. That Supreme Court decision recognized that every citizen has a right to make personal medical decisions without the interference of the government.
Roe v. Wade means that no politician can force me to bear a child against my will. Without the right to abortion, the state can decide for me whether I should have a child.
Once the government is the one making the decision, then you have had your rights taken away. If today the government can force you to have children by prohibiting abortion, then tomorrow it can force you to not have children by requiring abortion, e.g. China.
If you want to speak out against abortion or even demonstrate across the street from a clinic, I completely support your right to do so. It's a free country. And I want it to stay that way.