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...of Roe v. Wade, there are some things that I have to say.

I'm Pro-Choice, always have been, and it looks like I always will be Pro-Choice. I'm not Pro-Choice because I think abortion is some shining great thing. Quite the contrary, I'm continually saddened that it's still necessary for any reason.

But we as a country have failed to make it, as Clinton once said, safe, legal, and unnecessary. Because we have failed to make abortion an anachronism, we still need it, and I am still Pro-Choice

We have failed to teach our children how their bodies work. Not the morality in when to use the naughty bits. That is something that only individuals and families can decide. I mean the biology, the function of the plumbing. The fact that kids graduate from high school without knowledge of the interaction between tab a and slot b is appalling, and unforgivable. Even worse, we have allowed politics and religious belief to override scientific fact. So even worse than teaching nothing, some programs in some schools require that kids be taught inaccuracies about condoms and birth control, all in the name of scaring them into abstinence.

There is nothing wrong with abstinence, but to attempt to force people onto that path via fear-mongering and religious fervor is wrong. Not "misguided". Wrong.

Because we cannot be bothered to properly teach our children the correct facts about their own bodies, free of personal and religious bias, they enter the world of sexual activity without the basic knowledge to keep from having children until they are ready for them. Because we won't teach our children, I am Pro-Choice.

It is quite common to have Viagra and other erectile dysfunction treatments be covered on our insurance plans, yet birth control is still a spotty issue. Easy access to birth control is such a no-brainer when it comes to preventing abortion. Yet, the anti-choice side continually opposes not just abortion, but birth control. They create pseudo-science to cover religious conviction that the only purpose for a family, and on a deeper level, the only purpose of a woman's life is to make babies. So they oppose current contraception, and funding of contraceptive research. They even oppose things like the HPV vaccine, because in their eyes, sex should have consequences, and if one of them is cervical cancer, well, that's your fault for not being chaste.

Because I don't view children as a consequence or a punishment, I am Pro-Choice.

I have a child, he's a new teenager. I love my son, I have loved every day of being a father. Watching him grow into the kind, smart, funny, caring person he is becoming is, above any other accomplishment, the one thing I can feel I've truly done right. But I know the life an unwanted kid, or an "oops" kid can have. Look at the news. See what happens to kids in foster homes, or in homes where they are viewed as a consequence. I look at my son, and think of the possibility of such things happening to him...and I am even more Pro-Choice. "Hell is for Children" should be an anachronism, not an anthem. The anti-choice protesters line the roads, yet where are the legions adopting kids? We publicize movie stars adopting kids from other countries, where are the articles on how every kid without a family has been adopted. Surely all the "Adoption not abortion" crowd has done that right?

No, no they haven't. In fact, in all my dealings with the anti-choice crowd, I have met exactly one person who not only adopted a kid, but had fostered several. Her, I never give any guff about that sign. She walked the walk. If only more were like her. The irony is that I have met far more folks on the Pro-Choice side who have adopted. I find that interesting and sad.

Because "Adoption not abortion" is just a political slogan used by the anti-choice crowd, instead of the call to action it should be, because those who scream it at worried, frightened women will not make it a way of life, I am Pro-Choice.

Because we still bring harm to each other. Because rape and incest are a reality, not just a scary story. Because there are women who have been so terribly hurt by these crimes, and forcing them to give birth to the kid who would be a result of that crime would be an unimaginable cruelty, I am Pro-Choice.

Finally, pregnancy is not a low risk option. There are too many times when a woman is not able to give birth without losing her life. I can only speak for myself, and that as of 2003, me becoming a father was made as medically impossible as possible, I am speaking in the past tense. But when my ex was pregnant with my son, we discussed this, and I said, "I'm selfish. I'm not willing to lose you for anyone else, not even our child." I love my child, but I'm unable to let someone I love in the here and now die for someone else in the future. It's how I'm wired. If I had a daughter, I'd be unable to allow her to die just to have a kid. Because of that, I am pro choice. If for some reason the vasectomy failed, and Melissa became pregnant, and we were told that pregnancy or that delivery would definitely, or even had a high chance of killing her, my choice would be clear. I love her, and I will never have had enough time with her to trade her life for another's, even if that other life is one we created. I'm selfish. I need her in my life far more than some future person. She always wins.

When factual, correct, bias-free sex education is the law, not the edge case, when birth control is free, and a well-funded line of medical research, when kids are viewed as something more than a consequence, when we as a country, (to paraphrase the Rev. Jesse Jackson), care as much, if not more about our own people from birth to death as we care about them from conception to birth, when every kid in this country is in a loving family, and foster programs are shut down due to lack of use, then, only then, will I consider opposing abortion. When we no longer harm each other, when rape and incest are things of the past, only then will I consider opposing abortion. When pregnancy no longer kills women, nor even has the chance to, only then will I consider opposing abortion.

Until then?

Pro-Choice, it's my only choice.

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