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My body, my decision - unless I'm pregnant
Wednesday, March 08, 2006 @ 9:05 AM
All my life, I’ve been afraid of needles. The doctor’s office terrifies me, and the sight of blood makes me faint. Every year, my high school had a blood drive. I always admired people who took time out of their day to donate their blood. If I weren’t so afraid, I would gladly donate. Giving blood saves lives, everyone knows that. Part of me asks, “So what if I might pass out, humiliate myself, cry in public, have a panic attack, or miss the rest of today’s classes? What is that inconvenience compared with the possibility that my blood could save someone’s life?”
The government has never made any attempt to make blood donation mandatory. The country has never passed a law that forced eligible blood donors to roll up their sleeves and open an artery. Our government recognizes that the right to make choices about your own flesh and blood is absolutely crucial.
My father has had surgery in the past to have deficient organs removed. So far, he hasn’t needed to have any of these deficient organs replaced, but he’s not fifty yet. Someday, he might need a new kidney. It would be difficult to find someone with a kidney that his body would accept. As a blood relative, I might be his only hope for a new one. I could have any number of reasons for not wanting to give it to him, from fear of my remaining kidney failing me, to not wanting to take a week off from work to be in the hospital. Even if I had no reason at all, the government would still not force me to give up my kidney. I would be the only person capable of saving my father’s life, but I would have the option to refuse to do so. I would, in effect, be killing my father. But the government would not interfere.
Everyone seems to agree that the government shouldn’t tell you what to do with your body, no matter the consequences, even if those consequences are deadly.
Except the anti-abortionists.
Governor Rounds of South Dakota has signed a bill banning nearly all abortions. The law does not protect a woman in cases of rape or incest or even when her health is in danger. South Dakota legislators have openly acknowledged that they hope the law will be challenged before the U.S. Supreme Court, and that Bush’s appointees Roberts and Alito will overturn Roe v. Wade.
In response to South Dakota banning a woman’s right to choose, I propose that we all ban South Dakota. A good chunk of South Dakota’s economy is based in tourism. I propose that women everywhere pledge never to visit this anti-choice state. If we ignore this despicable political move, South Dakota won’t be the only state where a woman’s civil liberties are eliminated.
According to Governor Rounds, who was just in Washington, DC for a national governors’ meeting, he is getting support from his peers: “A lot of governors [are] expressing support and wishing us good luck and saying they may have similar proposals.”
Anti-choice lawmakers are pushing similar unconstitutional legislation in Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia, all with the intent of ending the right to choose through the courts.
Could Illinois be the next state on this list?
Illinois Governor Blagojevich has consistently been pro-choice and pro-woman. He issued a mandate to ensure pharmacists dispense the morning after pill. He launched the Contraceptive Coverage Awareness Campaign, a coordinated effort to inform women that private insurance plans that cover outpatient drugs or services are now required to cover all FDA approved contraceptive services and prescriptions.
Illinois is not likely to be the next state to ban abortion unless, of course, we are unfortunate enough to elect an anti-choice, anti-woman governor.
Now might be a good time to register to vote.
We all deserve the right to make choices about our bodies, even when those choices affect other people. For instance, I’ve signed the back of my driver’s license, and registered to be an organ donor when I die. I figured I’ll be dead; I won’t be around to notice one way or the other, so my organs might as well be used to try to save someone else.
You’ll notice no one ever says, “We could save a lot more lives if we made organ donation after death mandatory.” No one would ever dare to suggest that someone’s wishes about what is done with their body are irrelevant, even when that person is dead.
In the land of the free and the home of the brave, even dead people have the right to make decisions about their bodies.
Don’t women also deserve that right?
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