Warning: the following contains no crochet content

Today the Shrub was once again made the President of these here United States. This doesn't make me happy. There are too many rights and civil liberties that have already been trampled, not to mention the ones that are on the chopping block in the next 4 years.

I did participate in a protest today. Without even leaving the state. Not one damn dime. No money was spent by me today and will not be until tomorrow. No lunch, no starbucks, no snacks from the vending machine even. No yarn, no CDs, no books. I'm not even going to pay bills tonight. Who knows if this protest will even make a blip on the national radar, but I had to do something and I couldn't be in DC to turn my back on the motorcade or bang on a 5-gallon drum.

This Saturday, January 22nd, is the 32nd anniversary of Roe v. Wade. I was 2 when this ruling was handed down, which means for as long as I can recall, abortion has been legal in the US. And yet, it has also been under attack since I can remember as well. The next 4 years are going to bring the strongest attacks yet.

I am pro-choice in the strongest sense of the phrase, I believe that every woman should have the abilty and resources to do what she feels is best for herself and her family. Everyone has a different idea of what that best action may be and that's great. But no one should have the right to decide what is best for another human being who is capable of making that decision on their own.

I've worked at Planned Parenthood, doing options counseling for women who were finding out if they were pregnant. I've seen women with 5 kids and no job decide to continue a pregnancy. I've seen women decide to end a pregnancy for reasons that some would consider selfish. I've seen 14 year olds in hysterics because she can't afford an abortion and if her family finds out she's pregnant she'll be put out on the streets.

I've worked as a genetic counselor, helping women decide to test for abnormalities or not. Helping them decide to continue a pregnancy or not. Holding their hands when they've have a miscarriage or a stillbirth. Holding their hands when they decide to end a pregnancy of a fetus that has multiple malformations. Counseling these women to possibly lie to casual acquaintances about the termination: let them believe it was a miscarriage, then you won't be attacked by self-righteous jerks who think you made a bad decision, when you know it was the only decision you could have made. I've seen babies born with exposed intestines and exposed brains and skin that would disintegrate if touched. And I've seen families who would have never thought to do anything differently, even with those end results.

Every situation is different. Every woman is different. Taking away an option will not make everything the same. It will just drive the practice underground and more women's lives will be lost.

This past April, I went to the March for Women's Lives in DC. Over a million other people did as well, not to mention the millions others who supported the march even if they couldn't be there physically. The march got hardly any press coverage so if you hadn't heard of it, you're not alone. I got a t-shirt there that reads "My body is not public property". My body, my choice. Your body, your choice. Why is that so hard to understand?