In Celebration of Reproductive Justice

Post date: Jan 22, 2016 8:10:05 PM

On this 43^rd anniversary of Roe v. Wade, hear our voices. We are thankful for safe and legal abortion. It saves the lives of approximately five thousand women who would die each year from unsafe abortions. As we learned in the 1960s when women do not want to be pregnant, they will take extreme measures, including risking their lives to have abortions. Making the procedure illegal or difficult to obtain will not stop them.

In a perfect world, unintended pregnancies would not occur. Birth control would be more effective, inexpensive, and widely available. Everyone engaging in sexual intercourse would be knowledgeable about health and pregnancy risks. Unfortunately, we don’t have a perfect world. All our current birth control methods have failure rates. In addition, not all intercourse is consensual. Rape and incest happen as do mal-formed and non-viable fetuses.

For women to have autonomy, reproductive justice demands the right to make decisions about one’s own life and body. We cannot support mandatory pregnancy. We have the upmost respect for women making the right decisions for their lives.