Inspiring woman of the day - Kelli M. Conlin

This is a wonderful profile from the New York Times today. I think its a great statement that just because a woman chooses to become a mother doesn't mean her pro-choice values go out the window. That's an issue I think many women today struggle with -- "can I be a mother withut looking like a hypocrite?" And the answer is a resounding yes. I plan on becoming a mother one day - hopefully - but only when I (and my partner) feel absolutly ready. That's what "choice" is about. So many anti-choice people throw around the statement that "choice" = abortion. They love to use the argument of how we the pro-choicers have just learned to create a euphanisim that glosses over our support of abortion. But that's not the case at all. I don't consider myself "pro-abortion" - I do, however, believe that the choice to have an abortion is a personal one a woman makes. Abortion, just like adoption or raising a child is a valid choice - and one that shouldn't be swept under the rug. It hurts me that women, even those that consider themselves pro-choice, sometimes look at abortion as something shameful. It's one of those choices that one shouldn't have to make - but does. It's the delicate string on which the phrase "safe, legal and rare" hangs from. While I believe the statement, I also know that by saying abortions should be "rare" that we are conceding (or could be percieved as conceding) the fact that abortion isn't necesarrily right. But, I guess what it comes down to is that abortions should be rare - not because the act of them are wrong - but because the situations in which a woman is forced to choose are not situations many of us would want to find ourselves in. I wouldn't wish an unintended or unwanted pregnancy on anyone - I can't imagine what survivors of rape or incest go through - I know my heart would be broken if I found out that a fetus I was carrying was so disabled, it would never survive. None of these situations are those we wake up and hope will happen. But they do. And when they do - women have the right to make their own choice as to what happens next. Abortion is a valid choice. And one that no woman should ever feel she has to keep shamefully silent about.

That is what being pro-choice is. The desire to empower women to make thier own reproductive choices. Most women will make more than one choice in their lifetimes - all of them which are right.

A pro-choice woman was once approached by an anti-choice person who said to her, "If your mother would have had an abortion, you wouldn't be here."

The woman replied, "Actually, my mother did have an abortion. And I wouldn't be here if she didn't."