Everyone
marches to beat of choice
Jessica
Post
Last
Sunday I had the honor of being part of
the largest march ever on Capitol Hill.
The March for Women's Lives was the single
most powerful political movement that I've
experienced to date. Contrary to the 500,000
to 800,000 locally reported to have been
participants, more than one million people
were there. The million-plus number was
also largely publicized all over Europe.
It was quite a sight!
After
hearing from famous speakers, we took to
the streets to protest. The actual route
spanned about two miles in length. For those
of us in the middle of this long line, it
took nearly three hours to complete the
distance! The immense swarm of people created
such a clog of traffic that the "march"
was more like a very slow crawl.
We
were black, Asian, Latino, white. We crossed
political and class lines. We were gay,
straight, old, young, disabled, you name
it. As a matter of fact, there were a lot
of men there, too! I personally had the
privilege of marching which a group of Second
Wave feminists from Iowa, and we assessed
that approximately twenty percent or so
of the supporters were men.
Out
of our group, I was the only one under 40,
but this was kind of nice. These women had
pro-choice marching experience. They sang
songs and organized our poster making party.
Listening to them was almost like listening
to old battle hymns. One woman remarked,
"This is the most diverse rally I've
ever been to." She's attended a wide
variety of civil rights marches during the
past thirty years.
Also
among us was one white middle-aged Republican
man who was also pro-choice. He was photographed
about 50 times or so -- no exaggeration.
One side of his self-made poster read, "Republicans
for Choice!" The other side, "God
= Free Will = Choice!" It was amazing
to see the responses of those around us
as he was also unfittingly dressed in a
business suit and tie.
The
rally was not merely an abortion-rights
demonstration. The agendas of the attendees
ranged from reproductive rights to gay-marriage
rights to antiwar issues. But above all,
no matter which group one represented, we
were all there to fight the good fight of
supporting the rights of women in all aspects
of her life.
The
significance in the differing agendas and
the vast array of protesters is that people
are starting to see a political connection.
The one thing that these themes seemed to
have in common was the direct challenge
to the powers that be in our country, and
how they affect our lives here and around
the world. We've understood the connections
of power and the implications it has on
our freedoms.
As
we came up against the very few anti-choice
protesters at the edges of the streets,
a quite simple notion came to my realization.
These people want to stop abortion. I know
that seems simple enough, but in reality,
the two groups are not even arguing the
same argument! The reason why pro-choice
people want women to have access to safe
and legal abortions isn't because they think
abortions are necessarily "good."
Abortion
has been around for a long time -- not just
30 years. The real question is: If your
daughter (sister, mother, lover, girlfriend,
whatever) unwillingly became pregnant, would
you rather her take matters into her own
hands in a motel with a wire coat hanger
-- where she could easily die or be severely
infected? Or would you rather it be in a
safe and sterile medical facility with experienced
professionals?
Pro-choice
individuals would rather have the safety
of women protected, but also believe that
equal access to birth control would help
lessen the amount of incidence of abortions.
More than 20 percent of women who have abortions
do so because they feel they could not afford
a child (womensissues.about.com). Giving
lower-class individuals equal access to
birth control measures would allow these
women to maintain their rights of sexual
freedom while saving them from having to
make such a difficult decision about whether
to terminate a pregnancy.
Adoption
is not all it's cracked up to be either.
Anti-choice demonstrators' general comment
was "adoption's another option".
What they fail to realize is how racist
the adoption procedures are. After doing
some simple research, I found that the supply
and demand for white babies is severely
unbalanced to that of Hispanic or black
babies. So unfortunately, this leaves us
with an adoption issue which is not only
racist but class-based as well since approximately
two-thirds of independent adopting families
fall into the upper and middle classes making
more than $50,000 a year (adoption.com).
The
larger picture is about a woman's right
to choose whether she wants to bring a child
into this world. It's a big decision, and
a lot of women simply cannot afford to do
so, and unlike the mythical rumors, women
cannot decide to terminate a pregnancy (legally
anyway) during the third trimester. In fact,
it's difficult to find a facility that will
perform such a procedure during the second
trimester due to the viability of the fetus.
The
March for Women's Lives in Washington D.C.
was so powerful because of the massive support
for women's health and safety. For that,
I am grateful to have been involved in such
a worthwhile cause. These marchers were
children, mothers, fathers, grandmothers,
and grandfathers. They spanned the gamut,
yet collectively came together for one glorious
day to celebrate women and unabashedly support
their right to choose.
Jessica
Post is a Women's Studies major at Cal State
Long Beach and a volunteer at the Women's
Resource Center.
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