What I have a problem with is the desire of other people to interfere with MY choice to abort an unwanted pregnancy, whatever my reason does not matter. I mean, the reason, my life, and my body are all MY business! I have been hearing this argument for decades now (never heard it the first 40 years of my life!), and I still just do not get it. You are against abortion, I ask? Well, why tell me or anyone? Just DON’T have one! Urge your children not to have one, if you must; but get off of MY turf! No, the subject of abortion should not be political. It is a private matter, not a matter of State! Scheesch! There are many excruciatingly important problems facing this nation and this world. These have the potential to bring down our nation and/or to destroy our world as we know it and our species specifically. Why in the hell we are wasting so much time, effort, zeal, money and words on abortion completely eludes me! Someone’s religious belief? Well, any given religious belief belongs ONLY to those who hold it. Our constitution forbids, FORBIDS, that it affect MY life and my private choices. I just don’t get it! Government wants to mess with My Body, but does not want to feed the starving, swollen-bellied children already here? If a god makes a conception (oh, come on!), and has a hand in everything we do, then that god makes war, murder, babies die, women and children get beaten up, toddlers get raped? It just does not compute, thank you very much!

Yes. At least until we implement more efficient policies on the SEX EDUCATION AGENDA. Let’s face it, many people are getting knocked up out of pure ignorance. I have a friend who works at what is perhaps the MOST [in]FAMOUS national “family planning” clinic network and you wouldn’t BELIEVE some of phone calls and stories I’ve heard. People are utterly clueless as to what their options are, and I’m talkin’ PRE-pregnancy. Until faith-based hospitals are prohibited from intentionally withholding important side-effect information of the meds they administer (side effects which render birth control pills INEFFECTIVE)….and when the archaic Abstinence-Only mindset is abolished, and the Progress can finally begin, perhaps eventually there would be no need to have this discussion, because we would have fulfilled our society as an idealized, enlightened one. And by ideally I mean that there would BE no unwanted pregnancies in the first place. The option would only exist in cases of rape (especially of the incestuous nature), as that IS a no-brainer…to those who have SOULS; everyone would, ideally, be educated and thus responsible. Then again, I am one naive little dreamer. But I would hate to see yet another of my friends be forced to make such a tragically traumatic decision because the religious doctor failed to mention to her that the migraine medication they had to give her interferes with her birth control (I was THERE when he listed the side effects to her - he BLATANTLY OMITTED that most important one). Then again AGAIN, I would hate it even more if she had NO decision whatsoever. People, we are truly running out of SPACE on this planet…starting with the orphanages. GROW UP.

They are still out there. Five minutes ago I got a telephone call, they asked me if I was pro life or pro choice or somewhere in between. When I said pro choice, they hung up. We had a discussion last week on the Palin thread so I have nothing more to add.

Man. Heterosexual. Old. I am against any sort of imposition of your will upon me, and/or your will upon anybody else. Keep your religious crap to yourself, keep you nose out of other folk’s operating rooms, and keep your closeted senators’ and representatives’ feet out of my airport bathroom stall!!! YES ON FREEDOM (insert your freedom here) -NO ON 8 -NO ON HATE -NO ON ABORTION REGULATION -NO ON ANIMAL CRUELTY -NO ON EVANGELISM -NO ON WOOD FIRES ON SPARE-THE-AIR-DAYS -NO SMOKING IN MY VICINITY -NO ON LETTING YOUR DOG CRAP ON MY PROPERTY -NO ON SHOOTING GREAT BLUE HERONS BECAUSE THEY ATE YOUR POND-FISH -NO ON KILLING BEAR/MOOSE/(insert your animal here) BECAUSE IT GIVES YOU A POWER RUSH Do you know, I belive I could go on and on…

I never thought I would ever be agreeing with Barry Goldwater. But he was right. Unfortunately, many candidates run on what’s called a pro-life platform. The candidate many not have any other qualities to make him/her qualified for that office, but that one issue seems to garner votes. Some have been attacking Republicans on this issue, but the truth is many Republicans who are pro-choice do not get any backing from their own party. This one issue should not be the be all and end all of how someone votes.

Any thinking person knows the answer here is a resounding NO! But this argument will never cease - I’m convinced of that - because the REAL issue isn’t about Choice; it’s about Power. In sheer numbers, the most adamant, most vocal opponents of Choice are men. When I volunteered at a women’s health clinic, where we did not perform abortions but dispensed condoms and tested for STDs and HIV, it was always a group of male picketers who stood outside with their graphic, threatening signs and their attempts to prevent women from entering the building. Why would men be so invested in the Choice issue? The answer is obvious: Control and Power in the guise of religious conviction. Yes, there are also anti-choice women who are passionate about their religious beliefs, but they aren’t the ones in charge - in any church, in government, even in their own families. Being Pro-Choice means being in control of one’s own body and capable of making decisions without outside interference. No government should have the authority to legislate, and no church should have the right to dictate how women handle the decision to become pregnant (or not) and carry a pregnancy to term (or not).

Heck, no. But as long as sex itself is a political issue, whattaya gonna do?

Ah! if memory serves me right, although, it can be faulty at times. Abortion became a political issue when someone requested that the federal goverment pay or fund them! Ahhhhh! Yes, So if we look at this issue again, we have a medical procedure that a woman or a couple is asking of their insurance provider, which might be partially funded by a federally linked aka funded group. Enter the congress to be lobbied to and not listen to the general public, on what they would really like to be the law. When I was about 13 and had that talk with (gasp!) both of my parents, together with articles by that gracious Ann Landers spread infront of me, they did talk about love, committment and respect, but, they also talked about STD’s and getting “with child”. (Hey, my dad was a gentleman.) Abortion was discussed and I was enlightened that they both agreed that it was ok with them and that it was a woman’s decision. At this time my parents were in their 50’s if not early 60’s, as I was born when my mother was 38. When I was traveling and visited Berkely CA, I saw a table set on the sidewalk that was covered with bumperstickers. The two I bought were so profound and I am quite sure I was not going to find in my country town on the east coast. “What is popular is not always right and what is right is not always popular”. The second was “If you do not want an abortion, don’t have one.” This issue is about a woman’s body, like the ERA, a simple thing of person, respect and values has been taken up by men who want to control it. The ability of this country to have free speech is wonderful and I am greatful for the ability to do so, especially in this website. But, when a individual tries to force another to think or act or behave in any manner other than what is within themselves…..Well, if I were English my history book might have recorded that as the American insurrection! For us, it was our fight for independance! My sense of humor leaves me to ponder, What if men had the role of carrying the fetus? I wonder if this would still be a issue at all???????

I want the best of both worlds….I want a law that says animals such as pit bulls, should be kept from harm and cannot be fought or abused, but I also think abortion is a choice that a woman will decide. It is a decision, right or wrong, that she will live with the rest of her life. Only a person’s God has the right to judge. So, why does it feel so wrong that I do not want animal cruelty, but abortion should be left as a choice?

This is why we should separate church from state. No woman wants to have an abortion. There are conditions in some women’s lives that make abortion the only way to save the child from the torture the mother is enduring. It’s comfortable to imagine that every woman has a safe life. Unfortunately it’s not true.

The right to choose here in the Democratic Catholic state of Rhode Island will be a long time coming. Even though pre-teen and teen pregnancies are on the rise, RI students do not receive sex-education instruction until eleventh grade. Although the state might have gone for Obama in the last election, the newly elected members of the school committees are as conservative as ever, if not more so.

That is because one of the open rivers of influence for the fundamentalists has been the school boards of America, and they have known this for over 30 years now. They have not only markedly changed our schools, ruining many along the path, but our textbooks. They are dumbing down our Science lamentably. Wish liberal activists would wake up and RUN for the School Boards! Seriously!