20 years of CHOICE

Monday is the twentieth anniversary of the Supreme Court decision to decriminalize abortion.
I cannot believe it was so recent, within my lifetime. This is certainly a reminder that women's rights are still new and shouldn't be taken for granted. Beware the swinging pendulum.

I'm taking this moment to be thankful to trailblazers who have gone before me, with a promise to continue on this path.

Thank you Supreme Court Chief Justice Dickson for ensuring women have security of person and writing:

Forcing a woman, by threat of criminal sanction to carry a foetus to term unless she meets certain criteria unrelated to her own priorities and aspirations, is a profound interference with a woman's body and thus a violation of her security of the person.

Thank you Dr. Henry Morgentaler (recently featured in a National Review of Medicine interview) for fighting to give women a safe option.

Thank you to my friends brave and beautiful, who are always honest about their choices.

Thank you ani di franco for inspiration and for making rage so beautiful.

it was just one shot
through the kitchen window
it was just one or two miles from here
if you fly like a crow
a bullet came to visit a doctor
in his one safe place
a bullet insuring the right to life
whizzed past his kid and his wife
and knocked his glasses
right off of his face

and the blood poured off the pulpit
the blood poured down the picket line
yeah, the hatred was immediate
and the vengance was devine
so they went and stuffed god
down the barrel of a gun
and after him
they stuffed his only son

hello birmingham
it's buffalo
i heard you had some trouble
down there again
and i'm just calling to let to know
that somebody understands

i was once escorted
through the doors of a clinic
by a man in a bullet proof vest
and no bombs went off that day
so i am still here to say
birmingham
i'm wishing you all of my best
oh birmingham
i'm wishing you all of my best
birmingham
i'm wishing you all of my best
on this election day

Excerpted from hello birmingham © 1999 ani difranco / righteous babe music