#AlabamaLege: Y'all Are Not My Deciders

#AlabamaLege: Y'all Are Not My Deciders

I'm pro-choice for many reasons and though I could fill a book about being cheerfully childfree, I had to pick one reason to write about for this post. Thus, I wanted to pick one issue that would perhaps open up the tiniest sliver of doubt in the minds of those who still cling to the notion that a fetus is somehow more important than its host. Not that any of those types would be wandering around this blog, but adding my story it to the chorus felt right. (Side note: I appreciate His Rudeness for featuring all these pro-choice voices. This blog is my new happy place.)

So here's my story: I have a rare, undiagnosed condition that causes some of my bones and tissues to grow oddly and unpredictably throughout my life. Since I have no formal diagnosis, I worry about the health implications an unplanned pregnancy would mean for me. Not only have multiple specialists advised me that pregnancy itself is risky for my body to take on, but I also worry because I am certain I don't want to bring a child into the world with the same condition I have. Since it's an unknown syndrome, testing would likely be inconclusive (especially before 20 weeks), but geneticists believe it could be passed on. Thus, the decision to procreate should rest with me alone – the dreaded gene carrier, potential fetal hostel, and possible special-needs parent. Only I know what it means to live with this condition over a lifetime and only I can judge if it’s fair to deliberately deal this hand to a new person. Only I know if I am physically and mentally ready to withstand the toll of pregnancy and if I'm ready to parent a child, potentially born with severe medical challenges. By outlawing abortions after 20 weeks, states have removed options and merciful choices when fetal anomalies are discovered, or have at a minimum made those options significantly more arduous to exercise for women and couples. Furthermore, women seeking abortion are stonewalled with waiting periods, permission slips, invasive and unnecessary procedures, and to add insult to injury, often the advice they’re given is tainted by medical professionals fearing for their licenses, all while the she is fearing for her very life.

Throughout my childhood my mother worked hard at a job she hated so that we had excellent health insurance. No procedure, specialist, or distance was too extreme to get the best care for me. Now, however, as a grown, employed, tax-paying person with good benefits, my insurance coverage pales in comparison to what my mom provided me. (For example, on her insurance a prescription I frequently need is $10; on mine, it's $105 for the same two-week supply.) If I had a child with similar early-life complications I shudder to think...  the extensive testing, specialist care, corrective and reconstructive surgeries, rehabilitation, medical devices... I simply couldn't afford it. Then, there’s the burden of having available work leave, affording travel, and securing qualified childcare. And that’s assuming my own condition wasn't worsened after a pregnancy and delivery. To force pregnancy and birth on women is torture. It's inhumane. It's incompatible with the ideas of privacy, autonomy, and bodily sovereignty. It robs us of self-determination.

At some point, a choice is made. Right now, legislators want to play judge and jury and determine each and every case that is “worthy” of a golden ticket to the clinic. This is ridiculous! We have over 300 million citizens and I'm just one person with a funky medical condition. I want to live my best life and for me and my partner, that means a childfree life. I reject the idea that sex is only for procreation. I refuse to beg my doctor to administer a couple of pills, forced to cite a laundry list of defenses for my choice. I resent being told by multiple pharmacists that they won't fill my scrip because of their “morality,” even though they chose to enter the ever-altruistic industry of Big Pharma. And I certainly don't deserve to be shamed and intimidated by "Sidewalk Angels" (gag) decrying me as a murderer when I visit a clinic for my basic healthcare needs.

Alabama’s state motto is: Audemus jura nostra defendere, Latin for, “We Dare Defend Our Rights.” I have a right to bodily autonomy and self-determination and our out-of-touch legislators can’t dissuade me from that charge.

I tweet about reproductive rights @SthrnFriedFemst.

Banning Abortion Is Bad For Women.

It’s Bad For Virginia Business, Too.

Hi — I'm Sheila, a blogger from Virginia. Well, actually I’m the chief stenographer for the fascinating felines who opine at My Cats Are Democrats. If I knew how to purr, I’d do it in The Rude Pundit’s direction — for giving me space to point out that the Republicans are terrible in ways we perhaps haven’t yet dreamed.

On top of all the havoc that Republicans are wreaking on our Constitutional rights, healthcare and lives, damage to the business world is the other destructive legacy that’s sure to result from the GOP’s war on women.

And it’s definitely going to be something that our now-scandal-tarred governor, “Transvaginal Bob” McDonnell, and his anti-choice, anti-fun-sex-even-between-married-people attorney general, Ken Cuccinelli, will leave the Commonwealth of Virginia. Here’s how.

First, a little background: Virginia is really two states — the blue one that Barack Obama carried twice, and the red one that the Republicans and teabaggers are in charge of down in Richmond.

Virginia is the populous, ethnically diverse Washington suburbs, which stretch into Prince William County, where I live. And it’s also the state of Liberty and Regent Universities, of Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, of Gadsden flag and "choose life" license plates, and gun shows at the county fairgrounds.

But it’s not going to stay that way.

The Republicans here are, as in other states, demographically doomed. (Heck, even Liz Cheney is abandoning us.) Commonwealth-wide, Virginia is purple and trending blue. Regent Law School grad Bob McDonnell knew that, which is why he downplayed his right-wing Christian background and ran for his constitutionally limited single term as a business-friendly non-ideologue à la Mark Warner or Tim Kaine.

But that was then, this is now. Today, we have McDonnell-mandated ultrasounds, and Cuccinelli-coerced abortion-clinic building standards. (A women’s clinic in Fairfax is Cootchy’s latest victim.) These new laws are sapping women’s healthcare resources, cutting them off from necessary services, and, of course, stomping on their Constitutional rights. And I’m convinced that Virginia corporations with active recruitment efforts and well-crafted succession plans are secretly very unhappy about it.

See, Virginia is home to some pretty big industries — like agriculture, tobacco, shipbuilding, tourism, banking, consulting, healthcare, finance and tech — and celebrated “best employers” like Accenture, Booz Allen Hamilton, Capital One and Deloitte.

Important companies like those are constantly chasing high-quality talent from around the country, and competition is fierce. Too many employers are pursuing too few highly skilled executive/management candidates, especially in fields like IT, finance and engineering. And with times so tough for recruiting, Republicans in states like Virginia — by passing anti-abortion, anti-family-planning, and anti-women’s-healthcare legislation — are making it even harder.

That’s because Republicans are balkanizing America — turning it into a bunch of states you want to live in because you can pursue happiness in them, and a bunch of states that you don’t because you can’t. States where you can terminate a pregnancy, get a contraceptive, marry whom you love, stay safer from guns, rely on a social safety net, vote without a hassle, and have your kids learn science in school — and states where you can’t. States with a good quality of life, and states without.

A few years back, an executive recruiter cold-called my husband with a job opportunity. It was a great job, she said, located in a city in America’s heartland. He turned her down flat — wouldn’t even interview for it, because the state in which it was located had, thanks to Republicans, gone off the political deep end. (And he felt this way even though we had long since passed the stage that Jeb Bush would describe as “fertile.”)

The recruiter was surprised and puzzled. I assume that she no longer is. Because since that time, Republicans have only gotten worse, creating right-wing Siberias where no smart, clear-thinking American will ever want to move — states like Texas, North Carolina and Kansas, or even Ohio and Wisconsin.

The Old Dominion, unfortunately, has joined that list. What ambitious and progressively minded young woman (or young man, or young couple) would want to take a job in Virginia, when McDonnell and Cuccinelli have openly vowed to “make abortion disappear”? That means making women’s healthcare disappear. But abortions will not go away. The women who may need them will — especially up-and-coming professionals who refuse to live somewhere they have no rights.

What will it take for Virginia businesses to speak up? Sadly, not because the state is forcing itself into our doctors’ offices. They’ll start screaming when enough talented people tell recruiters who want them to live and work here, “Hell, no, I won’t go.” When a CEO in another part of the country announces to his employees that they’re relocating to, say, Norfolk, Virginia Beach or Richmond, and his best workers quit rather than move.

Are you one of those talented women whose skills Virginia businesses crave? If so, the economic power is in your hands. Please think about using it.

Meanwhile, Virginia Republicans heedlessly, obliviously bash on. Their candidates for statewide office this fall are living proof. Vote for them, and you’ll be electing: 1) Cootchy governor, 2) an attorney general candidate who thinks women who have miscarriages should be reported to the police (just in case they’re having self-induced illegal abortions), and 3) a maniac for lieutenant governor who says Planned Parenthood is a hate group and who makes Cuccinelli look like a flaming lefty.

The GOP war on women is giving my state’s business community a long, slow heart attack. Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow. But soon. I promise.

(IMAGE: The seal of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in all its half-naked glory. Don't tell Cootchy!)

Texas, Women's Rights, and the Elephant in the Womb

It's July in Austin, Texas. The calendar says it's the 21st century, but S.B. 5, the legislation that has just come out of the Texas Capitol, has set women's rights back decades, if not centuries.

First, a disclaimer: I'm not a Texan. I'm a 51-year-old medical librarian who moved to Texas from Boston when I was nine. I'm often told "Well, surely you're a Texan *now*!" - and maybe I should be - but whenever something like this abominable attack on human rights happens here in Texas - and it happens far more frequently than news coverage would indicate - I'm ashamed to admit to being a Texas resident.

When I was a young woman, a college student with a marginal income, I understood the importance of general health, sexual health, and women's health, and I was able to make use of the excellent and affordable services provided by Planned Parenthood. If I were a young woman today, I would have to amend that to say "...and I hope I'm lucky enough to be able to make use of..." those services. And luck should never have to be part of anyone's well care.

The recently approved bill professes to have the best interests of women's health at heart, but reducing the number of clinics in which women can access services - all services - will not improve anything. In fact, this could very well have a devastating effect, returning us to the days of backroom abortions - except, of course, for the female companions of wealthy men who need to take care of their indiscretions.

Now I, personally, never had a need for abortion services. I've never had any children, by my own choice. I feel very strongly that people who want children should endeavour to have them, and those that do not should not be forced either by societal pressures or circumstances to do so. I do, however, know several women - smart, thoughtful, responsible women - whose circumstances brought them to need abortion services.

Proponents of S.B. 5 would have us believe that anyone who gets an abortion, nay, anyone who would even consider an abortion is a baby killer, a godless welfare queen, a slut who uses abortion as birth control. I am astounded that anyone lives in a world that is unequivocally black and white. Not a single woman I know who has been through this experience treated it as anything less than one of the most difficult physical and emotional decisions of her life.

That doesn't mean there aren't women who treat having an abortion dismissively. There are also men who treat it equally dismissively - and this is not an attitude exclusive to "god-hating liberals." There are thoughtless people everywhere.

Further, there are those who would otherwise eschew science claiming that “The baby can feel pain at 20 weeks!” First, very few abortions occur at 20 weeks (fewer than 2%) and those that do are almost all done for the safety of the mother.

And now for a little science lesson: First, it's not a baby yet.

From the time of conception until the 10^th week of gestation, it's an embryo. From then until birth, it's a fetus. Once it's born, then it's a baby. Using less than clinical terms may be fine for planning a nursery, but if you're going to talk about science, then using terms designed to elicit an emotional reaction is less than authoritative.

Also, about that pain thing: In a meta-analysis published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers concluded that fetuses are unlikely to feel pain until the third trimester. Research that makes conclusive statements about fetal pain are extrapolating from research on premature babies which, to my mind, makes as much sense as studying fish which live in shallow waters and presuming you've got a handle on deep water fish.

Oh, and why all the screaming about Plan B birth control? I'm astounded by the idiots (no, this is not an ad hominem, this is an accurate assessment of those who embrace ignorance) who insist Plan B is a form of abortion. It's not. Plan B (levonorgestrel) cannot prevent implantation of a fertilized egg. It works by inhibiting ovulation and is used in emergency situations. I've also heard the ranting that anyone of any age can buy this product over the counter. Why yes, that's true. But I would suggest you be more concerned about your nine-year-old daughter buying a large bottle of gummy multivitamins (which are also available over the counter to anyone of any age) and eating them like they're candy than about the remote possibility that she'll grab a Plan B box off the shelf. I can only presume this is yet another effort to control women via a reproductive anchor.

When I hear someone say they'll do whatever it takes to "save even one baby", a great many questions come into my mind. How many children has this person adopted or fostered? Do they support efforts to help children after they're born, such as public education, school lunches, pediatric health care, etc.? Hell, do they help provide support in the form of prenatal care for mothers with less wherewithal while they're pregnant? Why does it seem like the fetus is more valuable than the actual child? Why is the fetus more valuable than the woman who is carrying it?

But, strangely, so many of the people I know who believe the contents of any woman's uterus is their business also scream at the prospect of background checks for guns. They'll do whatever it takes to save even one baby, but if those babies can function out of the womb and happen to be slaughtered by someone exercising their god-given right to firearms then it's all hunky-dory.

The hypocrisy blows my mind.