Why I'm Becoming so Opinionated

I want to voice something here - women's reproductive rights is always a heated topic.  Why on earth should I even want to become a part of the argument?  I used to always take a stand along the mindset of letting things work themselves out.

Not any more.

If we don't take a stand (we being any number of people - women, men, children, gays, transexuals, etc. - people in general, really) then we will fall.

Isn't that what life is about?

I am angry.

I am angry because so many people I know are stopped by a brick wall when approaching topics such as women's reproductive rights or gay rights.

They believe their God is against it.  They believe that you are sinful if you commit those things.  They believe that the only right way in life is the straight and narrow and that things like Planned Parenthood are going to blow that path into smitherines.

I understand that.  Truly I do.  I would never be able to take the life of a child inside me.  I don't particulary want a gay marriage, as I'm happily involved with the man of my dreams.  Their sanctity of their religion is their right - I do not oppose fundamentalists.  I don't believe like that and probably never will, but I don't hate people who believe that way and I do respect their choices.

But I don't understand why they can't see beyond the scope of their faith.

That's what makes me angry.

And sad.  And frustrated.  And confused. 

Why would God be so judgemental and narrow?  Did He (or She) not create us all unique, knowing full well how we would turn out and what choices we were going to have to face?  I don't get it.

If a woman gets pregnant and the egg gets fertilized in certain a way, that pregnancy can occur in the fallopian tube.  It's called an ectopic pregnancy; according to Web M.D. it happens every one pregnancy out of fifty.  This is not a good situation for the mother.  The embryo has to be terminated in order to save the mother. According to the American Pregnancy site, there are three ways to do this: through medication that terminates, through surgery if the embryo has already ruptured whatever area it's in (which is awful for the mother as it screws her reproductive organs up), or through surgery removing the embryo manually.

But if abortion is banned and laws are passed the way congress wants to, that woman is going to die.  No doctor is going to risk their license to save a woman when the procedure is labled as murder.

Reproductive rights don't start and stop with abortion, though.  They also include birth control and contraception, and the right to say "yes" and "no".

Did you know, dear reader, that women in the Middle East are not allowed to control their sexual rights?  They marry as young as eight and bare children as soon as their bodies are able.  Their husbands are the ones who decide how many children they have, disregarding the wishes of the woman or the health of the woman.  The same is in India.  And in Mexico, although the women are starting to take control of their rights there.

Why are we going to do that here?  Why is congress in the process of trying to create laws that will ban birth control and morning after pills? 

Do you see my frustration?

I am not about to have a minority or a group of men or (forgive me if this offends you) God telling me when I can or can not have sex, who I can or can not have it with, how I can or can not protect myself, and how I will deal with my pregnancy when it occurs.

It is my body.  It is my right.  Just like I demand the right to attend school and to live on my own and to marry when I want, I demand the right to take care of my reproductive rights the way I see fit.

It's the same with gay rights.  Why should a certain group of people be denied rights because a minority feels that they are living in sin?  What will happen if one of those people in that minority has a child who is gay or lesbian or transgender?  Are they going to stop loving their child?

If God made each of us by hand and knew each of us from birth, then wouldn't God know who was going to be gay and who wasn't because God made them that way?  Maybe I'm washed up and maybe I'm wrong, but that really doesn't make sense to me.  Everyone says God is like a parent; well, a parent still loves you and takes you home no matter what. 

This is why I'm fed up with organized religion.

Please, dear readers (the one's who made it this far), think about it.  I'm begging you.  Think about it.

~Meaghan