Trust Women

Happy national Blog for Choice Day.

Happy Roe v. Wade anniversary.

Trust Women.

That's what used to be printed on a button frequently worn by the late Dr. George Tiller used to say and this year's Blog for Choice question is: What does "Trust Women," mean to you?

In truth, my first answer is, "I don't know," followed closely by "Why wouldn't you trust women? What possible, logical reason could anyone have for not trusting women?"

I'd like to pause here to thank Dr. Tiller and all the other doctors who offer women abortion services, and the people who fought that women might have the right to safe, legal abortions, and people who are still fighting. Thank you. I value you and the work that have done and are still doing.

But back to the point. I've spent all day asking myself these questions; what does trust women mean to me? Why wouldn't you trust women? What reason could anyone have for not trusting women?

Why goddammit?

Why is it that women's choices have to be examined,and justified? Yes there is a moral aspect to the question. That's fine. They're my morals and I'm willing to take whatever possible ramifications come from them. I'm just not willing to die, not willing sit by while other women die.

Because let's be clear here. Anti-choice crusaders aren't fighting for fewer abortions. They're fighting for fewer safe, legal abortions.

Making abortion illegal won't stop abortion and it won't lower the number of abortions one bit. It never has and it never will. that's a fact that America needs to deal with.

This debate is complex and has many valid perspectives but it isn't a debate about the fact of abortion. It's about access to abortion without harassment. It's about not having to deal with assumption that women don't really know what we want and if we were just forced to sit through enough anti-choice, science impaired, rhetoric we'll realize that our destiny is to breed. It's about the need to force everyone to live by an arbitrary set of morals in an effort to validate some bizarre sense of superiority. It's bullshit and I'm not having it.