The Value of Choice

Deborah's eloquent post doesn't leave a lot unsaid, but I do want to follow up on a point she touched on: choice is about more than just abortion; choice is about choice. I'm pro-choice because I see choice as a positive value in the broadest sense.

Choice means raising girls to believe in their intrinsic value and their ability to make their own decisions, independent of male approval. Choice means making sure they have real opportunities, survival strategies beyond simply having babies. Choice means equipping them to make informed decisions about their sexual behavior. Choice means making contraceptives available to everyone. And yes, choice means making it possible to choose abortion.

'Choice' has become effectively synonymous with the last of these things (because that's the choice that is most actively threatened), but it's really the whole spectrum.

And here's the thing: by and large, the same people who oppose choice on abortion also oppose choice in all its other manifestations. Every single one of them. They embrace a faith that defines women as inferior; they tell girls they have no function but motherhood; they fight to keep kids ignorant about sexuality; they actively attempt to limit the availibility of contraception. And of course, they work tirelessly to make abortion illegal, even as everything they do serves to make it inevitable.

The sound and fury are all about abortion, but every aspect of choice is under attack to some degree...and every aspect of choice is worth defending.

[That's all, folks]