As protestors marched past me with conviction, I stood among the crowd in awe. This rally was not about whether you agree with abortion – this rally represented a much bigger issue. The issue is about freedom, women’s freedom to have autonomy over her own body. However, the popular narrative chooses to focus on 3% of services provided. It is critical we understand that defunding planned parenthood will not stop abortions – but what it will do, is make it extremely dangerous for those already marginalized by our political and economic landscape to access the care they need. The legislative effort to deny women the access to affordable contraception, sex education, cancer screenings, breast exams and Paps, I find to be irrational in nature. What is it you hope to accomplish by these restrictions other than to make it extremely difficult for women to access the care they need? Empirical evidence shows us the greatest impact of these restrictions will be felt primarily and disproportionately in poor communities and women of color. What then does your “All Lives Matter” sign say to those targeted by this discriminatory legislation? If you are against the government subsiding medical services, are you also against the government subsidizing corporations that pay wages low enough that their employees fall under the federal poverty line?
Your stance is Pro-life, yet you are against giving women access to medical care. So when you shout out at these rallies and insist you are pro-life, what exactly do you mean by that? Does your “All Lives Matter” sign encompass Black and brown bodies, refugees, Muslims and transgender lives? If you live by the principle in which your political stance is founded, then I trust– you will be the first person I see at the next Black Lives Matter protest? That you were on the front lines of the protest when Trump signed the Muslim Ban, that you donated to the ACLU lawyers that helped fight the ban? That you stood in solidarity with those targeted by the ICE raids? That you wrote to your local officials about the urgency to accept Syrian refugees?
So I ask you again, when it comes to your moral principles, what side is it that you really stand on? Are you truly acting in accordance with your conscious? If all lives matter in the eyes of “god”- than you must mean your god, right? When you say you are prolife, you mean except for those ensnared in the Muslim Ban, except for those killed at the hands of the state violence, except for those with different sexual orientation, except for those undocumented and except for those with beliefs outside of your own. When you tell me that you are “Pro-Life” and “All lives Matter” I challenge you to say what you really mean – and that is, “My Life Matters, My Beliefs Matter and My Being is Superior.”
I hope this piece provoked you, I hope it made you feel uncomfortable, I hope it challenged you.
Challenge The Narrative 