A Blog for Choice

Today is Blog for Choice Day 2008, and it is also the 35th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. I can attest to the importance of the day because I was nearing the end of my teen years when the decision was handed down by the Supreme Court, permitting women the right to decide the future course of their lives. Truly, for many young women who found themselves pregnant, that is precisely what the decision entailed. In reality, it was more than a choice, it was a decision that could determine the course of a future life path.

Growing up Catholic in a small town, I experienced the 70's version of an "abstinence only" education. For my friends and me, that meant that our sex education consisted of never having the word sex uttered. See I've Got Rhythm. I can recall the whispered conversations with my girlfriends about what "the act" really consisted of, not having a clue. Thinking back on those days, its almost humorous to recall some of our speculations, which were certainly well outside the realm of human possibility -- but we didn't know better.

Unfortunately, nor did we know how one got pregnant, which is precisely what got so many "in trouble" (literally). Once that occurred, and it all too often did, the choice was a "shotgun" marriage or an extended trip to places like Philly, to spend time in exile before delivery and placing the child for adoption. Last year, I went back home to attend my high school reunion and saw the results of the divergence in our lives from that lack of choice.

As the saying goes, we have come a long way, baby, from those days. So far, that it is easy to ignore what Choice means or how important it is to protect that right. Moreover, as with many of the other rights that we thought we inalienable (such as, free speech, habeas corpus, warrantless searches) which have been trampled (if not eviscerated) by the current Administration, it is clear that the right to make such personal decisions free from governmental intrusion can all too easily be lost as well.

The importance of this issue resonates for me because:

I live in a state (Pennsylvania) that has earned an "F" for its laws on Reproductive Rights.

78 percent of Pennsylvania counties have no abortion provider. Although the Governor, Ed Rendell, is pro-Choice, both the state Senate and House are anti-Choice. See NARAL: Pennsylvania.

That is why it is especially important for me that a Democrat is elected. Luckily, the top Presidential candidates, Clinton, Edwards & Obama, are pro-Choice.

It is no secret to anyone that has ever read this blog that I believe George W. Bush is the Worst. President.Ever. He has failed miserably as President, as he has everything else that he has ever done in his life. That will be his legacy. Yet, as I observed to a friend the other day, the one area in which he has "succeeded" is to change the make-up of the federal judiciary. The effects of the conservatives appointed to the bench during his reign will reverberate for many years to come, long after we have seen the last of Bush. The right to choose is among those most precarious of legal issues. We need to be vigilant in protecting it.

For my post last year on Blog for Choice Day, see The Reason Why. For other voices expressing why they are pro-choice, see Blogs for Choice.