40 Million Votes Up For Grabs - Vol. 2

To bring home the point:
40 Million Votes Up For Grabs - Vol. 1

40 Million Votes

To reiterate.  They are women who've had abortions.

Who and where are the women who've had abortions?  I'm one.  Look around you.  There is definitely a woman within earshot of you right now that's had an abortion.  But, you say, there's no "slutty" looking women around me now.  I'm at work.  Or, I'm in church.  Or, I'm at the gym.  We're there though.  You can't avoid us.

And to you politicians and candidates paying attention out there.  Women who've had abortions are on your staff.  They are relatives.  They are friends, relatives, co-workers, volunteers, Republicans, Democrats, etc.  Women who've had abortions are everywhere.

More.

40 Million Votes

Statistics show that according to the CDC Abortion Surveilance 2003 women who had abortions in 2003 are:

33% from ages 20-24

80% unmarried

53% white
36% black
11% other or unknown

40 Million Votes

So, a candidate speaking at a political rally needs to know that there are lots of women out there who've had abortions.  And there are many men listening in the audience who've paid for an abortion.  There are also friends and family of women who've had abortions.

Their reasons are many and varied.  That's their business.  Your business as a politician who wants to get votes and win elections is to make people feel good about you and your issues so they'll support you, both financially and with their vote.  So, don't piss them off.

Don't muddle your messaage with platitudes such as:

"I'm really against abortion, but..."

You don't know what you're "for" or what you're "against" when it comes to abortion until it happens to you.  Believe me, there are many self-described "anti-abortionists" out there who have chosen abortion when they need one.

Also, don't say:

"Abortion is such a painful decision."

How do you know that?  Maybe it was the most painless, empowering decision many of the women in your audience have ever made.  Maybe they were very sure of their decision.  Maybe they're very OK with their decision and are wondering why you're not.

40 Million Votes

This should be entitled:

*How to talk to women who've had abortions.*

So, I think it would be more productive for candidates to say something like:

"I don't know what I'd do if faced with an unplanned pregnancy in my life.  All I do know is that it's important that all options are on the table because women and families are smart enough to make these decisions for themselves.

The bottom line is that politicians need to talk to us. Don't be afraid of us.  Don't be afraid of abortion.  Talk to all of us women who've had legal abortions over the past 33 years.  We want to listen.  We want to not be condescended to.  We want to be respected for choosing what we needed to do in our life.

Who do you think these 40 million women are?

Out of a population of 290 million...eh?

Now, we're seeing a second and third generation of women getting abortions.  The only difference is that the girls today can tell their mothers, while women in the first generation couldn't.

None of the women who get abortions are stupid.

They are CEOs.  They are internet pioneers.  They are lawyers.  They are doctors.  They are saleswomen.  They are everyone.  We are everyone.

Anti-abortionists and many politicians act like women getting abortions don't know what they're doing.  In fact, abortion patients have done more research on the internet and they know everything about abortion beforehand.  They've gone from ignorant about abortion in the 70's to generally well educated on the techniques, drugs, etc. today.

So, who are these young women getting abortions today?

They are the smartest young women in the world.

40 Million Votes

So, why are they still getting pregnant if they are so smart?

Because they're still getting crap when they go to the drug store to get  birth control or Early Contraception.

And birth control prices have recently soared on college campuses, thus making it harder for young women to get contraception:

Prices for oral contraceptives, or birth control pills, are doubling and tripling at student health centers, the result of a complex change in the Medicaid rebate law that essentially ends an incentive for drug companies to provide deep discounts to colleges.

The right wing has done everything possible to make it harder for women to get birth control.  Then they jump on women when they get pregnant and want an abortion.  They're giving schizophrenic messages.

So, just look around you right now to see women who've had abortions.

And look at them...don't look through them.

40 Million Votes

Let me repeat...

40 Million Votes