A civil right cannot be guaranteed to ANY citizen, until that civil right is guaranteed to EVERY citizen.
Many who are pro-choice are worried about women losing their reproductive rights. Perhaps they should be. After all, if the right "to do what one wants with their own body" is so basic and important, why should it be confined to the uterus only?
Perhaps if it were women who had abortions that were being piled into for-profit prisons instead of marijuana smokers, one might quickly understand this thesis.
Although we have yet to reach the 100th anniversary of women's suffrage in this country, no one is worried about women losing their right to vote. The League of Women Voters has been busy registering voters of all eligibilities (not just women) for decades. This is because they have matured into the realization that as long as every American has the right to vote, women will always be guaranteed the same automatically.
If only the National Organization for Women (NOW) would also mature and work toward guaranteeing this right for every citizen! If they did, then reproductive rights would become just as sure and solid as a woman's right to vote!
It inspires the following open letter:
Dear NOW (and your supporters),
I understand and espouse your right to do what you want to with your own body.
I write asking for your support of that same civil right for millions of other Americans.
In case you haven't noticed, marijuana smokers are currently living YOUR WORST NIGHTMARE--being threatened with jail for doing what they want to with their own bodies! Yet, you seem to stand by mute. Why shouldn't they be afforded the same civil right that you demand for yourselves?
Personally, I believe that the only thing more tragic and worse than an abortion is a back-alley abortion.
If you would like people to be tolerant of YOUR application of this basic civil right, perhaps you could be broad-shouldered and tolerant enough to accept ANOTHER person's application of that same civil right!
Additionally, the boundary should not stop at marijuana. California recently became the fifth state to allow someone racked with a mortal disease the right to die. Shouldn't such people have the right to do what they want to with their own bodies as well?
Indeed, a civil right cannot be guaranteed to any citizen, until that civil right is guaranteed to every citizen.
Thank you for your time. I long for your future support.
Sincerely,
Drew Desmond....
"My body, my choice" must mean much more than just abortion rights. The only way to fully protect a woman's reproductive rights is to secure the basic liberty of "my body, my choice" for ALL Americans.
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