NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia : News : Press Releases

This month we mark one of the most important anniversaries in the history of womankind -- 35th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade -- the Supreme Court decision which finally gave women control of their own bodies. As a thirty-five-year-old woman, I have never known a world in which abortion (or birth control for that matter) was prohibited. Simply speaking, I have always had control over my reproductive healthcare decisions. That is why today I am in Richmond for the 5^th time to participate in Pro-Choice Lobby Day. I never want to see a day in which I and other women and girls do not have the right to self-determination.

When I was eleven-years-old and the kids on the playground started talking about sex, my mother sat me down and gave me the cold hard facts. When I was thirteen, my health teacher taught an enlightening sex education segment that stressed abstinence, but offered information on contraception in case raging teenage hormones and peer pressure blinded our better judgment. I was lucky. The adults in my life, those charged with my education, ensured I was fully prepared to take preventative measures so I would not have to make a difficult decision such as whether to have an abortion or to have a child I was not quite ready for. Roe ultimately ensured, however, that I had choices if I needed them.

Pregnancy and motherhood is nothing to enter into lightly, yet too many people ignore the subject in our homes, in our schools, and in our churches. Abortion is an entirely taboo subject amongst many people; however, these same people strongly oppose teaching sex education in our classrooms. It lacks commonsense and is counterproductive.

In 2006, there was a 3% nationwide increase in unplanned pregnancies for teens between the ages of 15-19. Given the Bush administration's policy of funding abstinence only programs, is it any wonder? We aren't being straight with our kids. Abstinence-only education denies knowledge to those who are most vulnerable. Knowledge is power. It gives us control in planning for our futures -- education, marriage, children, and careers. Family planning and medically accurate, comprehensive sex education leads to healthy, happy, prosperous communities and families. It is an agent in ending the cycle of poverty many young mothers find themselves stuck in.

As moral decision makers and voters, how can we deny such valuable information? How can those so adamantly opposed to abortion be as equally as opposed to sex education? Not only are their positions counterintuitive-- they're dangerous and it shows how out of touch with reality they really are. It's easy to say "don't have sex" or "abortion is murder" when you've never been in a position to have to make such a personal, private, and difficult decision.

We talk a lot about principles in this country, but what principles are we really concerned about? Are we concerned about young people making good choices? Then why deny them information? Are we concerned about women having adequate healthcare? Then why would we deprive women the ability to terminate an unplanned or dangerous pregnancy and to be forced to seek out illegal and precarious procedures as too many had to do before Roe? Ending Roe is not going to end abortion. Everyone knows that. Abortions happened pre-Roe, and they would continue should the Supreme Court overrule a quarter-plus century of legal precedent. Principles? Those opposed to lawful, safe abortion, sex-education, or even the HPV vaccine are interested in only one thing -- punishing women for having sex.

Del. Bob Marshall once again introduced a Roe "trigger bill" (HB 81) which would outlaw abortion outright in Virginia if Roe is ever overturned. Moreover, there are nearly a dozen bills this session that are designed to thwart a woman's decision making abilities regarding family planning. Some limit sex education; others limit access to birth control and abortion.

Out of frustration, Del. Kris Amundson is again patroning the Birth Control Protection Act (HB 1071) which defines the difference between contraception and abortion which the radical right continues to mix. The latest rumor out of Richmond is that the Republican controlled house isn’t even going to allow that the bill be heard. They don’t care a majority of reproductive aged women in the U.S. use some form of contraception. They don’t care that most people believe in reproductive freedom. They don’t care that women are the majority population and that they are the majority of the impoverished along with their children.

Every person is a moral decision maker, but we cannot make intelligent decisions without correct information or access. The state should not control our judgment and actions by denying us information and choices. We have the inherent right to make our own personal, moral decisions regarding our reproductive health.

Unfortunately, the religious right and neoconservatives continue to politicize women's reproductive healthcare. These groups believe women should be punished if their choice to have sex produces unintended consequences. To counter this, we need to ask our federal candidates and lawmakers where they stand on the Freedom of Choice Act. At the state level, do you know where your legislator stands on the Birth Control Protection Act (HB 1071)?

Choice is a fragile possession. We must protect it from further attacks by enacting constitutional and legal guarantees to a women's right to childbearing choices. Our freedom and democracy are at stake.