by Stephanie Kunkel, Legislative Director
Florida Association of Planned Parenthood Affiliates

This morning, as I updated my Facebook status to celebrate the 37th anniversary of Roe v. Wade with a message about how thankful I was that I have the right to make personal decisions about my body, I would never have guessed how many anti-choice comments I would receive –  and from my friends and family no less!

Those comments back and forth, pro-choice and anti-choice, really got me thinking.  I have always been, and will always be, a staunch defender of a woman’s right to choose.  Never for one minute will I stop defending a woman’s right to make a personal decision about her own body, in consultation with her family and her doctor.  It is why I stand at the front doors of those clinics and escort women inside. It is why I hold their hands as they go through the procedure. And it is why I lobby every day for birth control to be affordable and accessible – so that women can PLAN for pregnancy and not have to be faced with the choice.

While I was celebrating Roe, I started noticing many anti-choice status updates on the pages of friends and acquaintances.  Some were angry at “the women who choose to murder their babies,” while others were “praying for the unborn” and still others were believing that “all Roe v. Wade did was teach people to not take responsibility for their actions.”

No one likes abortion. Yet, should a woman be faced with an unplanned pregnancy or, god forbid, a fetal anomaly of a planned and wanted pregnancy, she should have the right to choose to terminate a pregnancy in a licensed medical facility by a licensed, medical professional, and not in some seedy back alley.

That’s what Roe v. Wade did.  And that’s why I celebrate the anniversary of this event every year.

 

Learn more at:
http://www.floridaplannedparenthood.org