You can still be there in spirit for free! Check this out.

In case you need more news & reasons to attend the March for Women's Lives, visit Amy Richards.

I'm so looking forward to this event! Not only to march on Washington for the first time, but to finally get to meet some of my fave bloggers who are like cyber-sisters to me. I also can't wait for the estrogen rush!

I got my ticket for the March yesterday. Woohoo! I'm flying in on Saturday into BWI and then flying out late Sunday. I really don't know why you can't fly out later than 7ish from BWI. Or why you can't get into BWI earlier than 9:30 am. You'd think that DC would be one place for red-eyes. *shrug*

I'm working on a blogger get together for Saturday night. Perhaps for dinner. But there will also be quite a few fundraisers in town that night as well. I'm waiting on a few and perhaps Bloggers for Choice will show up in numbers at one or two. Stay tuned for news!

Our voices are being heard. Read about it.

The South Dakota state legislature voted down a bill that would have outlawed abortion. Was it a pro-choice victory?

Knowing the political leanings of those in the SD Senate, I wouldn't say it was a pro-choice victory. Some might have voted no due to a clause allowing an abortion to save a woman's life. Some might have realized that it would have never passed a court challenge and in a state that is in a huge fiscal crisis, did the right thing and not subjected its state to a costly legal challenge.

But at the end of the day, we won. By default? Possibly. But we still won.

If you're in Illinois today, VOTE! Planned Parenthood Illinois has a nice voter info page.

40 days until the March for Women's Lives

By now most of you have heard of the woman in Utah who is charged with murder of her fetus by refusing a C-section.

The Tribune doesn't mention her past of mental illness and that should be vital in the court of public opinion. First of all, a C-section isn't an outpatient procedure, it is MAJOR surgery. No one should act like it is otherwise. Second of all it is still her fucking body people. I just love (sarcasm alert) how it appears that some in the media want to frame it as choice gone wrong and some call it a question of ethics. I have yet to see (and do point it out if I'm wrong) someone talking about her mental health and questioning if the doctors ever had a social worker or mental health expert to talk to this woman before her fetus died. *sigh*

If this case doesn't prove how society sees women as just walking uteruses (uteri?) and not as a human being, I don't know what does.

41 Days until the March for Women's Lives

Twenty-five years ago, before the ink dried on Roe vs. Wade, my father set out to protest. Every Sunday, his only day off, he picketed the local hospital where the procedure was offered. Though I never joined him, I imagined him pacing angrily. Perhaps, as his fellow Teamsters did during strikes, he is carrying a placard. At home, his nine children play, knowing when he returns silence is the only sound he'll want to hear.

Years passed, and my father stepped up his efforts. He bought an old-fashioned airport limousine -- think of a double length station wagon. On the tailgate, in large, flourescent letters, he painted: ABORTION IS KILLING YOUR OWN CHILD. There we were, the rolling performance art piece, never knowing what "abortion" meant, understanding only it was the most evil of evils, a one-way, first class ticket to hell.

[read on...]

Send your local provider:

* a thank you card
* some money to pay for someone's abortion
* lunch (or gift card so they can order it)
* flowers
* some love in general!

Find out more!

A message from former Texas governor, Ann Richards:
Get serious about the March for Women's lives...

On April 25th, every major organization in the nation that works on behalf of a woman's right to choose when or whether to bear children, will march in Washington, D.C. Initially, I was reluctant to go. I thought, "been there, done that"... "time for the next generation to take up the battle"... etc.

Then I watched "Iron Jawed Angels", the HBO movie about the women's suffrage movement, and I was so moved by the tenacity and commitment of those women that I realized that I have not been doing enough in recent years for the Choice cause. Sure, I have written checks and made a few speeches... but I have not REALLY been fighting.

We cannot allow ourselves to think that we can rest: we must continue fighting for the rights of women, and we must be in Washington, D.C. on April 25th. Please put it on your calendar. Make hotel and plane reservations now. This is a crucial year for women. Our rights and freedoms are under attack as never before. Pass on this email or your own message to your email list. I will see you at the March on April 25th. --Ann