Today Is Blog For Choice Day

The feminist bloggers are blogging today for Blog For Choice Day. I thought I'd participate as well.

Choice means many different things to me. Choice is about much more than abortion. It's about women having the ability to control what happens to their bodies, whether that means getting an abortion when one is necessary, or having access to emergency contraception so that you don't become pregnant. Choice to me also means that women should be able to bear children and raise them as they see fit. Before the trolls jump down my throat (not that they need an excuse - and please note that I will remove any trolling posts from men's rights types if they appear here), I know very well that good fathers provide lots of good things for children. Mothers, however, continue to do most of the child rearing. Choice in my mind means showing respect and giving proper attention to women's reproductive choices, whether that means getting an abortion or choosing to give birth and raise a child.

I'd like to see an end to the push for joint custody (which has been proven to not benefit most children). I'd like to see an end to pharmacists and other medical personnel not giving women perfectly legal emergency birth control and other forms of birth control. I'd like to see an end to promotions of the bogus Post-Abortion Syndrome, which was just written up in the New York Times. I'd like to see an end to abstinence-only education. I'd like to see laws that forbid the sale of sex toys in some states abolished. I'd mostly like to see the government get out of our bedrooms.

Being a sex writer, I also see choice as being about women being able to enjoy their sexual lives without any slut shaming. Women who take responsibility for their sexual live deserve good regard. Choice is about much more than abortion. People who are pro-choice already know that, but the conservative religious types like to frame choice as if it is only about abortion. It's about so much more, and pro-choice people are making sure that the full meaning of "pro-choice" gets out there.