Oh God Save Me From Your Followers.

It is with me everywhere I go. Walking down a crowded street or sitting alone at home. When I feel pain. And when I feel pleasure. It is a sense, an inkling, a untested basis of knowledge. No doubt exists that my body is an awesome thing. A thing that no one can deny. It is obvious I am a woman to everyone. I have breasts. A vagina. And all the necessary parts to be considered one of the female gender. I know my body inside and out. I can tell differences in smells, textures, pain, and pleasure. I instinctively know when something is wrong, when I am about to become ill or when a balance in my body somehow becomes unbalanced. I know my emotions and I know my bodies biological functions better than anyone, male or female. I know that my body is powerful. I feel its power when I menstruate and feel my body readying itself for another timeless biological cycle that I share with all women. And I feel its power when I press down on my breasts and feel the mammary glands beneath the surface reminding me of my body’s dual function of pleasure and biological practicality. I feel its power when I look in the mirror and notice changes in my body, when I see the surface of my skin change, and when I change my body’s appearance through shaving, plucking, or putting on makeup. I know that my body is powerful. And I also know this power can be used for me or against me. I know that my body is something I must protect. I have been through 8th grade and I have read Cosmo girl and I know how to label the parts and I know what their functions are, but I also know instinctively that they are mine. This is my body. I have lived in it for 20 years and I know everything about it. Everything. Surely, this body belongs to no one but me. Surely, I have the ultimate say in what happens in my body, to my body, for my body.

But this is a lie I must tell myself. Because now there are people, women fighting against me and against all women. They are fighting to make women’s bodies no longer their own. They are creating even more factions within the feminist movement and confusing young women as to what being a feminist really means. Equal rights for women. Treating women human beings, treating them the same way men are treated. Nothing more. But a woman’s body is the most important thing. You can take away a woman’s right to vote, work, own property, get married to whomever she wants, all of which has been done before and is still being done today. But when you take away her body. When you take away something that she knows so well, something that is one with her soul and the universe. You take away everything.

Abortion is a moral issue. It is a moral issue because it is immoral to deny basic human rights to any woman. The right to control your own reproductive system belongs to every woman regardless of race, economic status, or religious views. It is immoral to deny women these rights. The supreme violation of the basic right to have control over one’s body still exists today. Rape still exists today. Sexual slavery still exists today. Domestic violence still exists today. And sadly, the issue of whether or not women should have reproductive rights still exists today. We, as a people who claim our “democracy” for all to hear, can not allow this systematic “raping” of women’s rights by politicians. Women have their dignity stripped everyday. By working for less than men in the workplace. By not receiving the same benefits as men under their current health insurance plan. And by being continually discriminated against in other forms throughout the world. We can not let this last vestige of hope fall from us. We can not allow the right to have a say about what happens in our own bodies to be taken away from us. We can not allow this dignity to be shredded by the pseudo-Christian, pro-family base under which so many claim to be operating. Abortion is a moral issue. It is a moral issue because to deny women reproductive rights would be to deny them their rights as human beings. That is immoral. The right to have an abortion or gain access to information about other reproductive rights is not about "killing" babies. It is about giving women choices. It is about avenging the women who were forced to have children before they were ready. It is about avenging the women who lay screaming in agony on kitchen tables while they had their uterus punctured by a butter knife or a crochet hook during a "back alley" abortion. It is about avenging those women who were sterilized because of race or mental ability. It is about supporting the women today who feel alone or feel they have no say about their own bodies. It is not about fetuses. It is not about protecting the sancitity of human life. It is about human rights.

It does not matter if you agree or disagree with abortion because personal feelings are personal feelings. They do not reflect society or how it should operate under any sort of government. What a minister tells you from the pulpit on Sundays is personal opinion. Reading the Bible or any other religious or sacred text and using that as a basis for your life, is personal opinion. What you believe in, what you say, what you think, how you feel, and what you do is all personal opinion. Everyone has a right to that. But no one. NO ONE. No, not even God-fearing Christian women in pantsuits have the right to tell me or anyone that their beliefs should be forced upon me or any other woman.

The United States is a country of many. Not just WASPS. And not just any other group so easily categorized. When people begin to think they can operate our government, our country, and our lives according to a belief system that, in reality, not many share and is contested hotly among the factions of Christianity, people are alienated. Unfortunately in this country those who are alienated, women and minorities, are those who need their basic rights the most. To me it is so clear, that it is hard to put into words.

Our country can not be run under a theocracy. God can not be used as an excuse to elect someone over another (just as race and sex have no place in the current political commentary). The right wing party has hijacked God and made religion to be a rally cry. But God does not support right or left wing candidates. And religion is a belief system that has no place in political rallies.It is devastating to me that God, my God, the Spirit I used to turn to in times of anguish and thanksgiving, the Spirit which I used to praise and humbly ask for help, has become a campaign tool. The spirit of God, the life of Jesus, a prophet to not only Christians but also Muslims, have been used and abused by these zealots who seek only to abuse their status or membership of a religion or denomination in order to further their own greed, power, and corruption. Their gall amazes me. The ease with which they speak of family, God, religion, and Christianity alongside ugly words like war and socialist while continuing to allow their supporters, and indeed members of their own party, to perpetuate racism and sexism not only reflect badly on their character, but makes me wonder if they were every buying into the “Jesus saves” crap at all. It has been said that actions speak louder than words. It is a trite phrase, but true. Do not let talk blind you from the actions of these people. Do not let your own beliefs determine what you believe is right for everyone. Do not turn religion into a marketing tool by allowing these sick examples of Christians to profit off of others fears and beliefs. Do not turn your back on millions who will suffer under this so called Democratic form or theocracy. It must be stopped.

"Find out just what people will quietly submit to, and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress." -- Frederick Douglass