Between mandatory housing, mandatory meal plans, and whom one can marry, our choices are being made for us. Apparently, there are people in the world who think they can make a better choice than we can.
Even the anti-abortion protesters on the major malls last week think they should have a say when it comes to our minds and our bodies.
Legislators in South Dakota also think they are smarter than every one else (well, women that is). This past week, they pushed forward a bill that is expected to be signed by the governor, which, in their own words, "directly challenges Roe v. Wade."
Whether or not you agree with abortion, you should be outraged. Loss of choice is what forced people to create a country like America to begin with.
Though I'm a person who can actually speak from both sides of the abortion coin, I still come back to the pro-choice position every time. And at the risk of blowing a few gaskets out there, I even agree its use is a means of contraception.
From a logical point, if women were forced to have a child because a bunch of other people said they had to, there would be a lot of what happened before Roe v. Wade, such as back-alley abortions and other extreme measures.
Sounds like fun, but I'm not about to tell someone that just because she has made a mistake she should be forced to subject her body and the rest of her life to make some pool of legislators happy.
If you are not emotionally ready to have a child, it is absolutely devastating to find out you are pregnant. When you are emotionally equipped, there is nothing on the planet that equals the love and elation you feel knowing you are going to have a baby.
If you would like to talk about abstinence, I invite you to join us here on Earth for a while, perhaps get a latte before you get beamed back to the planet that you live on. I also would like to ask where you get off thinking that women should be the ones to pay for the lack of a cold shower. I have yet to see any "Keep Your Pecker in Your Pants" campaigns driven at men, let alone legislation that punish them for not doing so.
Let's talk about the huge influx of new, unwanted children taxing an already inadequate system. If your response to this is to put these babies up for adoption, go visit an orphanage and let me know how you feel about forcing the "choice" to live like that on those children.
Pro-lifers have no response for what should be done on a long-term basis with these issues, because they are in it for the instant gratification. In fairness, it can be argued that women who have an abortion participate in instant gratification, too.
I am not going to (nor can I) take people's opposing opinion away from them. But when you really stop and think - think being the operative word here - a push that bans women from having an abortion is discrimination.
The mere fact that this legislative measure singles out women makes it so. The powers that are in South Dakota do allow abortions when the life of the mother is in danger, but not in cases of rape or incest. Gee, thanks. Why bother?
The fact of the matter is that as citizens of the United States we should be afforded the privilege of free choice. Until you walk around in my heels for a while, I'll thank you for keeping your nose out of my, and other women's, personal life.
Angi is a psychology senior and can be found burning her bra outside the MU, or by email at angela.leighton@asu.edu.
