Monday, January 22, 2007

Blog for Choice


Blog for Choice Day - January 22, 2007


I am pro-choice because I believe that each woman has the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

The choice to have a child MUST be a personal, private, individual decision. Each woman, when pregnant, is alone with her body and the awareness of a growing and dependent life. For each woman to be free, she MUST be given the RIGHT to choose.

We should not legislate to strip women of the right to her freedom to choose. Instead, we should legislate to ensure that each pregnancy is wanted, if not planned
.

Young girls and boys as well as adults should have access to medically accurate information on human reproduction, birth control, and disease prevention. Each person should be made aware of the right of each individual to choose what happens to their body and be taught to respect one another as unique individuals.

Family medical clinics should be available in every community to provide regular clinical services, educational sessions, and medicine. If people are assisted with the means to prevent unwanted pregnancies, there would be fewer abortions.

Plan B has only recently become available in the United States. Advertising and public outreach campaigns are still needed to help more women know Plan B is available. It should be available to any woman at any time and of any age. No one has the right to judge a woman for choosing to control her reproductive capacity.

I find it hard to believe that there is anyone who wants to have an abortion. That there are people who rely on abortion as a means to birth control. Abortion is the last option, it should be the last option any woman should have to make if she finds herself with an unwanted pregnancy.

We can help reduce unwanted pregnancies by making pregnancy prevention an easily accessible and affordable option. We can make more pregnancies wanted by providing affordable health care, child services, and educational opportunities for young mothers and their families.

Organizations like NARAL Pro-choice America , who planned and organized today as the national BLOG for CHOICE day, and the Planned Parenthood Federation of America promote women's reproductive rights, which are dwindling here in the United States.

Although elections in November 2006 proved that Americans' support a woman's right to choose, the attacks against Roe vs Wade will not stop. Abstinence-Only education supporters will continue to lobby for their belief-based curriculum to dominate over medically accurate curricula. While Plan B has been approved for use in the United States finally) We can not take reproductive rights for granted. Be attentive to your politicians and funding streams. See what resources are available in your community to help girls and young women secure their rights and access to clinical and educational services.

Women deserve their freedom, their dignity, their right to control their bodies. This is why I am pro-choice.

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