I Heart Pro-Choice People

Anne Martens

You can see from blog progress that immersion works - I'm slowly getting more and more on message!

A note to Jason and his opinion, here's one of the things that I don't see much of a middle ground on: abortion.

Walking over to the Fleet Center last night, I saw three trucks in a line, each with enormous pictures of bloody dead babies draped over them. The pictures proclaimed, "Kerry Edwards, a bloody team for a bloody America." Chalk slogans on the sidewalks (offensive but not effective as a tactic for political change) charged that we were baby killers and murderers. Yeah, free speech is fabulous.

Who do you think is more qualified to determine whether a woman should have an abortion - the woman and her doctor, with the advice of her family and friends, or somebody who's never met her and who feels righteous driving around with pictures of dead children on his car? And who's more qualified to raise a healthy and happy child - the woman who makes that choice of her own free will, or the woman who is forced into it?

I know plenty of women who've had abortions, and one who underwent a less-than-professional procedure before abortion was legalized. No one has ever said it was pleasant, and everyone said they thought about it long and hard before determining that under their current circumstances, they were not prepared to have a child. I respect that. Autonomy over one's own body and health seems, logically, to be the type of thing we shouldn't have to defend and fight for so rigorously. Abortion was the issue that got me interested in politics to begin with, I canvassed for an abortion clinic in Oakland, regularly gave money to Planned Parenthood and NARAL, was stunned at the thought that somebody else could tell me what to do with my uterus, but even I stopped really paying attention and thought abortion as an issue was well-protected and therefore less important.

GW and the prospect of Supreme Court appointees have very much revived abortion as an issue that we all need to address. Roe v. Wade isn't a particularly well written decision, as it set up an arbitrary timeline that plays the rights of the fetus against the rights of the mother. Planned Parenthood v. Casey reaffirmed Roe's "essential holding," threw in a test about whether a woman was "unduly burdened" by restrictions on access to abortion, but left some room to maneuver. So this is what we've got. It's far from a clear protection of women's rights to control their own bodies and healthcare, but it's better than nothing (and I'm guessing that even with a Kerry presidency it's not going to get any improvement). It's dependent on one Supreme Court vote. As Bush packs lower courts with anti-choice judges, an abortion case is more likely to makes it's way up the ladder to the Supremes, and Ashcroft would doubtless delight in seeking a Roe reversal. So there you have it. I think I should have autonomy over my body and my healthcare choices, I don't see much of a middle ground, and I will strongly and vociferously disagree with anyone who claims to have more of a right to my body than I do.

Now that we're done with the daily message, here's some convention highlights. I apologize for the long post, but there's so much going on it's hard to get away to write, and if I wrote down everything that happened it would take pages.

Ron Reagan spoke about stem cell research and how we, regardless of party, have an obligation to use technology to help real people with real diseases. People have a right to their beliefs, he said, but "the theology of a few should not forestall the health and welfare of many." Seems to me that a refusal to use science and medical procedures that we know work is a dereliction of duty and a violation of the Hippocratic Oath. We should let doctors be doctors, and allow diseases to be healed.

Barak Obama was amazing, the best pure speechifying all night. Dean was short and sedate and kinda boring. Teresa Heinz Kerry was, quite simply, elegant and impressive. And every woman in the arena felt it when she said that she was looking forward to a day when women were considered "smart" instead of "opinionated."

On the floor, I was a little annoyed at the orchestration. And it's seriously hot under those lights. Yes, it's a production, made for TV, and everything is coordinated. Signs bearing the next speaker's name are handed down the aisles shortly before the speaker comes on (yesterday, the men's signs just said their last names - "Obama" or "Kennedy" while the women's signs went for first names and added that touch of sweetness, "We love Teresa" and "We love Christie." Under each state's signpost is a computer, two phones - with a red and a blue light to signify ringing, and a live feed screen. The delegation whip (thank you Jesse Cornett) wears a fluorescent yellow vest, takes direction from on high via the red or blue phone, and relays those directions to the delegation. As in, stand up and wave the "Kennedy" signs now, and Jesse will come after you if you aren't standing and waving, and, hey get that freak with the flag to sit down, and, wave "We love Teresa" signs when she gets on stage but "Kerry Edwards" signs when she's done. I know it has to be this way so that it all looks pretty on TV, but it goes against my sense of individualism and idealism. I really want the standing and clapping and sign waving to be real, spontaneous and meaningful, not enforced.

Who watches this stuff anyway? The New York Times has a good article on media coverage and viewership of Conventions over the years. Somewhat related, Michael Moore has been berating the media for not asking the hard questions about war (or about anything), first at an AFSCME showing of "Farenheit 9/11" then at a packed Take Back America training with Dean. With a wink to the reporters and cameras piling up in front of him ("god bless you and thank you for coming"), he launched into an accurate assessment of how we depend on the media to be a bulwark against political corruption and dishonesty and we really need them to do a better job of asking questions. It's America; you can ask anything you want!

Post-convention, I was feeling particularly pro-choice, so I went to the NARAL party, which was at a lovely nightclub called Sanctuary, a whole bunch of luminaries spoke, and I picked up a very cute black T that reads, "I heart pro-choice boys." Then it was on to the DCCC party at Felt, a swanky three story spot that oozes "cool." I must say, I'm a huge fan of an open bar. I'm an even bigger fan of a whole city full of open bars.

Here's a non-sequiter but it's important so I'm going to put it in, and why bother pretending that I have any sort of artful subject transitions anyway. This morning's delegation breakfast was security themed, and we heard from a man who's in the Reserves and who runs Operation Truth, where he gives a soldier's perspective on Iraq and on military policies. When you're talking to folks about war and the military, questions worth asking include those about the the lack of equipment, lack of health care, and general lack of support for the men and women who defend us and die for us.

Much respect to the troops and to all my pro-choice peeps.

By Anne Martens July 28, 2004