Abortion: Only For Those Who Need It!

NOTE: This post contains my opinions on Catholicism based on my experiences as a child in the 1960's and 70's. Take what you like and leave the rest. I mean no disrespect to anyone who is happy with their faith, but the Supreme Court leak has shaken me to my core and dredged up some old demons. 

In 1977 I was a senior in high school. Roe v. Wade was four years old, and the Catholic Church was hopping mad. At the end of that school year I would finally break free from the prison I had been in for twelve years. But they weren't done with me yet.

For those twelve years, all us good little Catholic girls and boys were marched to church on the first Friday of every month and for various religious holidays to pray for our miserable souls and beg God's forgiveness. I had stopped going to church on Sundays when I was eleven. There were no adults at home to force me, but of course it was near impossible to get out of those perp walks with the rest of my sinning classmates and armed guards nuns keeping watch. We weren't angels, but it was drilled into our heads that we were definitely sinners. After all, we were born in sin thanks to some chick with an apple who took some bad advice from a talking snake and convinced the guy from whose rib she was created to go along with her. We were screwed from the start, and only the grace of God would heal us. But the nuns never explained exactly what that meant. They called it a 'mystery'. All I knew is that I couldn't find it, and by the time I was a senior, I didn't give a shit. Drugs and alcohol were making me feel a whole lot better than the Act of Contrition ever could. God hadn't helped me all the times I cried out in the night, dutifully said my prayers at mass or a zillion Hail Marys after confession, or brought in all the change from my piggy bank to 'buy' starving babies 'over there' in some nameless country while my own refrigerator sat practically empty. No, grace seemed to only be attainable by real saints who were burned at the stake or crucified or shot through with arrows like poor St. Sebastian over there.

I remember the priests at mass telling us to pray for all the unborn children. "Wait a minute, what about me? Who's praying for me?" Surely the nuns knew my home life was a train wreck, they must have known how bad it was. Why weren't they praying for me?  Why weren't they helping me!? I guess all of my problems were my own fault because, you know, ORIGINAL SIN!!!

So, on a particular spring day in 1977, our church decided to hold a special 'pro-life' mass that all the students in my high school were supposed to attend. I was told by my art teacher (who was one of the coolest people I knew at the time and was just following orders), that senior AP art students were to create anti-abortion signs. My hackles went up. Until that point, none of my friends ever had to make that extremely difficult choice (that I knew of), but there were a couple of scares. And no one—especially a bunch of men and women hiding behind robes of hypocrisy—was going to force me to take a public stand against something as profound as bodily autonomy. What to do? 

The words came to me pretty quickly. I grabbed a piece of poster board and a marker and wrote:

Abortion:

Only for those who need it!

I don't remember going to the mass or what happened to that poster, but I do remember two of my very good friends refused to attend. They were suspended and their parents were called. Heathens!

Over the years, I tried a few times to return to the church because my connection with my higher power was, and still is, very strong, but each time, I was met with acute hypocrisy. I tried to focus on that relationship, but the priest sex abuse scandal was the final straw. To be fair, there are many Christian organizations that do tremendous work helping others, and with the majority of Americans supporting abortion, it's safe to say that not every Christian wants to return to the days of Hester Prynne. Along the way I found one priest—one—at a particular church who made a point of saying at the end of every mass, this is the church of Jesus Christ, and all are welcome whether straight, gay, married, divorce, black, white, yellow, pink or blue. That's what Jesus would have said. That is true Christianity.

I think about my own daughter at the dawn of her adult life, and I am grateful that we live in a state (NJ) that respects the right of women to make their own healthcare decisions. I think about the women—and men—I know who have had to make that terribly difficult decision because they were not in a space to raise a child. And while the Christian right wrong touts it as the killing of a human being, isn't it also a death—albeit a slow, painful one—to bring a human being into a world where they will not—for whatever reason—be able to live a full, productive life?

While I was born into a loving household, that safety and security dissolved very quickly and life was dark and scary for many years. There should have been social services to help me and my siblings, but there weren't. And now, almost 50 years later, the wealthiest nation in the history of this planet still does not have an adequate social safety net to help women, children and families living on the edge because a very vocal minority has gamed the system in their favor and those in the majority seem to be afraid to offend them.

The US already leads the world's wealthiest nations in maternal mortality, and the states most likely to ban abortion are also least likely to provide adequate, affordable healthcare, including contraception, pre- and postnatal and infant/child healthcare. Pregnancy is a 50-50 operation, yet women are blamed. We—like Eve—are the original sinners and we must pay while men still get their Viagra. As Abraham Lincoln said in his famous anti-slavery speech, "A house divided against itself cannot stand... this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free."

If this Supreme Court decision goes through, this nation will have come full circle. The slavery of all women will be legal. Forced childbirth is slavery. Period.

Artwork by me

Mad? Me too. 

VOTE!

This is How We #MAGA in 2018

"We the People" means all of us because if you're not at the table, you're on the menu

In an op-ed in today's Washington Post (not available online as of this writing), Joe Scarborough asks:

What will finally move Republicans to deliver a non-negotiable ultimatum to this unstable president? Will they dare place their country's interests above their own political fears? Or will they only move to end this American tragedy when there is nothing left to lose?

To which Eugene Robinson replied this morning on Scarborough's Morning Joe:

This Congress won't do it's job, and I see no reason to expect that to change. I think the duty of the American people is in November to elect a Congress that will... This is not in terms of partisanship. They can be Republicans; they can be Democrats, Independents. Whatever they are, that they are patriots, that they are willing to do clearly what is their job, their constitutional role right now in this extraordinary situation. (emphasis mine)

We the People have to stop this runaway freight train because the Republican-controlled Congress won't. We can scream and yell and protest and tweet at them all we want, but they have turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to reality, so it's up to us. We can and will succeed in November. We started the fight on January 21, 2017. The wave of activism that has swept across this country since that day makes the Tea Party Movement look like watered down decaf.

A sad statistic: 

This year we will see a record number of primaries and challenged House races. My guess is that this will be the most expensive non-presidential election cycle in history. 

But none of that matters if we don't vote. Almost half of all registered voters didn't vote in 2017. If we want to save this country, we simply cannot afford that this year, especially when nothing has been done to prevent foreign powers from tampering with our elections, and the GOP has done far too much to suppress the voting rights of minorities.

Change the demographics

Flipping the House also includes electing many more women. Women outnumber men in the US by the slimmest of margins, but we are woefully underrepresented in elected office at all levels. New Jersey, the most densely populated state in the union, has only one woman representing us in Congress, Bonnie Watson-Coleman. Electing more women is the only way we will truly have a voice for the issues that matter to us including pay equity, health care and reproductive rights, sensible gun legislation and poverty. 

US News and World Report ranked Sweden, where women hold 44% of Parliament's seats, #2 out of 60 industrialized nations for its overall quality of life. The US is in 18th place.

[C]ommitment to human rights, public service and sustainability have helped to make [Sweden] a respected leader in international affairs. 

Sweden operates under a model similar to those of other Nordic nations: heavily capitalistic with a large percent of spending going toward public service. Once well above the global average, tax rates have decreased, and an advanced infrastructure and transportation network assist with equal wealth distribution. Health care, as well as a college education, are free, and its people boast one of the longest life expectancies in the world. Almost all of Sweden's trash is recycled. (emphasis mine)

All that in a capitalistic system. Imagine that.

We all have to work

I live in New Jersey's 7th Congressional District, a GOP bastion for as long as anyone can remember and a DCCC target this year. Right now there are six candidates for the Democratic nomination. I have been volunteering on the campaign of Linda Weber. Many of us here in the 7th believe she is the right candidate at the right time. She is the most qualified, the most representative of the district, and best-positioned to defeat Rep. Leonard Lance. I could go on about why, but check out her website. It tells the story far better than I. And of course, if you like what you read, please consider donating and/or getting involved.

Linda is but one. There are many other highly qualified candidates running in districts all over the US. You owe it to yourself to find out who is running in yours and support them. Any amount you can donate, whether $5 or $500, helps these candidates fight for you. It's a sad state of affairs, but candidates have to raise a boatload of money to be viable, so every dollar counts. 

If you are an unaffiliated voter, consider registering for the party of a candidate you support so you can vote in the primary. Volunteer to phone bank or canvass. Host an informational event. Register voters. Whatever you do, do not sit this one out. The future of our country truly is in our hands. 

Robes of oppression: words & pictures on the Hobby Lobby decision

Hiding behind robes of oppression

A picture is indeed worth a thousand words. I'm still reeling from the Supreme Court's Hobby Lobby decision Monday. I've tried to put words together to express my outrage over this continued assault on women's bodies and reproductive rights, but there are just too many racing through my head. 

As I always say, when all else fails, make art. So, here's my visual reaction. Please feel free to caption this as you see fit. Maybe you will help me find my voice in this mess.

Meantime, here's a report from the LA Times on the ripple effect that has already begun, and includes this quote from Eden Foods owner, Michael Potter, on the real reason he wanted to see this ruling: 

I don’t care if the federal government is telling me to buy my employees Jack Daniel’s or birth control. What gives them the right to tell me that I have to do that? That’s my issue, that’s what I object to, and that’s the beginning and end of the story.

Yea, Michael, it's really all about your religious freedom. Suffice to say I will no longer be purchasing any of your company's products. I do hope that if—God forbid (no pun intended)—one of your female employees happens to get pregnant through rape or incest, you're first in line to foot the bill for her medical expenses and will financially support the child until adulthood.

Who's filing the lawsuit to give employers the same freedom to deny Viagra and vasectomy coverage?