I am a woman on the edge. I have been driven to that edge by a Republican Party which has been spouting some wild stuff about rape, pregnancy, abortion, birth control and women’s rights and health care.

I have been told that being pro-choice is the equivalent to being pro-abortion. Let’s get one thing straight – pro-choice is (and I’m repeating myself…) supporting a woman’s right to choose her own healthcare – whether it’s preventative, supportive, family planning, or having a legal medical procedure. This includes pre and post natal care, cancer screenings and care, birth control, and yes, abortion. IF a woman chooses to have an abortion, that choice is between her, her doctor and whomever she chooses to include in that choice. If she chooses to have a baby… Mazel Tov!

Let’s get something absolutely clear… if there were a way to make abortion obsolete… pro-choice people would be dancing in the streets. Because that would mean that birth control would be 100% effective, 100% of the time, everyone would be using it correctly, rape would no longer be a problem, and women wouldn’t have to worry about things like still births, defects that show up late in pregnancies that could kill them or their child.

Comparing abortion to killing a child is not only a false equivalency, its bull shit. No one (no one in their right mind, anyway) would advocate killing a child. Since abortions are statistically done within the first 12 weeks, and are legal up to the first 20 weeks, you are comparing apples to oranges. There is a huge difference between a child and a potential.

I am a woman… I have seen both sides of the argument, here. You want to ban abortion? Fine. Consider this – if you ban abortion, you had better have a great way to educate young people on birth control, STDs and HIV. Because, folks, Abstinence isn’t working! As a nation, we have one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the world… and combine that with a dismal maternal death rate… Oh… wait… save the child… other wives may be found! And what to do with the child once it’s born? Who cares? We SAVED the Unborn!

And what makes this even better… in 31 states, a rapist has rights! He has rights to that child you would force a victim to have! How very… enlightened… Tell me… how does visitation work in this case? How does the victim ever heal? There are women out there who choose to go through with the pregnancy (they are far braver than I could ever be), from rape, who have to deal with their rapist for the next 18 years… do they collect child support?

In the Victorian Era, women (of means) had to have a guardian. Someone who would handle her money and property for her. Because, it seems that her female reproductive system rendered her unable to handle these things on her own. Many times, they would end up with nothing, because these kind gentlemen would squander her money, before they would ever touch their own, after all… what did she really need? Never mind that the Queen was a woman… that was different. Prior to that there was the question over whether or not women had souls. Now there is a question as to whether or not women know what rape is. I wonder… do the young men who have been raped by the Church know what rape is? Does anyone question them (other than the Church)?

We women are our own worst enemies. We are trying to fit into the Patriarchy and see who has the bigger set of balls. Freud called it “penis envy”. But no… I think that the real problem is that these men have vagina envy. They only wish they could be us.

So how do we misbehave? While we still have it… VOTE! Vote with all our hearts, might, and vaginas. Vote as if our lives depend on it. Speak out. Protest. Get loud. Find your inner feminist. Be an advocate for your rights. Spread the word… and the word of the day…. VAGINA!