Things I love about being pro-choice:
1) All of the sweet, loving, caring, funny and intelligent people that are on my side. I love you guys and gals!
2) The fact that our side is not the side that is known for terrorism.
3) Knowing that I'm on the side that has more people who support rape victims, trans people, homosexual and bisexual people, people of color, and other disadvantaged or minority groups.
4) Knowing that the majority of my fellow pro-choicers really do care.
5) Knowing that I won't ever have to look a terrified pregnant woman in the eye and say "I do not support giving you a choice".
6) Knowing that, if I get pregnant, my peers will not only support my right to abortion, but my right to pregnancy, adoption, parenting, natural birth, home birth, etc.
7) My pro-choice friends won't try to shame me for my sexuality.
8) I know that I'm helping people, and I love it.
9) I can say, with absolute certainty, that I chose the belief that truly respects life, liberty, and bodily autonomy.
10) If I end up having daughters, and one of them ends up pregnant, I will be able to say "I want you to do what's best for you. I support your choice, regardless of which choice you pick."
Those are just a few things. What do you love about being pro-choice?
Sunday, March 14, 2010
8 comments:
***PLEASE READ***
Due to constant spam and derailing coming from a few antis, I am now making this blog a "safe place". This does not mean that I won't allow opposing views. It means that I'm not longer going to allow hateful or unrelated/spammy comments. This will continue on until the anti-choice spammers get bored with harassing me and the people who post here, and is especially relevant when it comes to the topic of rape. I hope this doesn't deter any respectful people from commenting. :)
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#1 thing I love about being pro-choice: knowing that I will never force my ideals, beliefs, and personal morality on anyone especially when it comes to what other women can and can't do to their bodies.
ReplyDeletemost of my life i was told and shown that my body did not belong to me. as an adult i will fight to the death for the right of every person in this world to own their own body and to control what happens to it and in it.
I had to think about this, but I think that when you are anti-(choice, gay marriage, etc), you are pre-judging people. I don't see how you can be anti- and NOT pre-judge people. So I love being pro-(choice, gay marriage, etc) because I am not judging those people.
ReplyDeleteI find the true irony to be that apparently the bible tells people not to judge, and yet often, they are the most judgmental. I don't need the bible to be moral (as some claim). I never liked being told what to do, and thus, I am pro-choice because I treat others how I wish to be treated, and that means not judging them before I meet them!
Along with what Not Guilty said about not prejudging, I think being pro-choice is really about helping people. Anti-choicers will probably come here and tell me that they indeed are helping people and they want to help me. Seriously, I think they're being sincere. I also believe that the vast majority of people, and this has nothing to do with abortion, don't know what helping is.
ReplyDeleteHelping is a truly selfless act. When you help someone else, you're not helping yourself. Helping is altruistic, not self-serving. And it's really hard to help someone. You don't have to lose yourself or leave your values at the door, per se, but you have to put yourself second to the person you're helping. And for all of the rhetoric that anti-choicers spit about women who don't have abortions as being selfless, brave, and sacrificing (i.e., putting themselves second), it's the anti-choicer who is putting those women second. They're putting themselves first. They have to judge the woman as a way of helping them They have to tell the women who have had abortions or are considering abortion that they're wrong or have made a terrible mistake as a way of helping them. They have to take those women down a peg as a way of helping them. They have to try to convince the woman to come around to their way of thinking as a way of helping them. That's not help at all. To help another person is to meet them where they're at. Helping another person is not about you. It's about them. And once you get in the way of them, you're no longer helping. You're hurting. And of course you don't think you're hurting them, because you feel great. You've already taken them down a peg to make yourself the better person in this helping partnership. Why wouldn't you feel great? You're a much better person for helping, and for not being an irresponsible slut like those stupid women who get abortions! Who's better than a helpful virgin? I can't think of anyone.
So, I think there's a lot of self-serving and prejudging in the anti-choice movement that really isn't there in the pro-choice movement. No matter the situation, for anti-choicers, the thought process always goes back to "abortion is murder," which doesn't really leave the women they're helping with much esteem in their eyes. Maybe the anti-choicer will graduate to "women don't know what abortion is," which still doesn't really leave them with much esteem, but I guess being dumb is better than being a murderer. For pro-choicers, the thought process always goes back to "it's her decision, not mine." So we can watch 18 Kids and Counting and think, "Can you believe the carbon footprint -- I mean, have these people ever heard of birth control?!" But we can stop ourselves and say "her decision, not mine."
I agree with all the reasons above.
ReplyDeleteAnd I also love that women like Pro Choice Gal represent us as a dignified, intelligent voice for choice, with integrity and compassion. I love being pro choice because people like you are so amazing. Thank you!
FEMily, the last part of your post is so true. I actually quite like 18 (now 19) Kids and Counting (which amazes my family to no end as I don't want children and I'm atheist). And yes, I do not comment on their carbon footprint, etc. I see nothing wrong with what they are doing, though it isn't for me. One thing that is poignant for the pro-choice movement is that Michelle decided to NOT terminate her pregnancy to save her own life. Her child is on the cusp of viability and I hope she makes it. But I support HER choice! (See anti's? We aren't out looking for babies to abort! We really support ALL choices!)
ReplyDeletePro-choice supports individual autonomy--women making their own health care and reproductive decisions. In a nation that supposedly stands for "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" I'm proud to stand in support of such an ideal.
ReplyDeleteSimple. I can do whatever I want without feeling guilty about it. (I'd feel guilty about harming others only, but I don't want to do that anyway.)
ReplyDeletePretty much for the reasons everyone else has said- trusting women to make their own decisions, being on the side of reason, et cetera.
ReplyDelete