Carve a coat hanger into Mt. Rushmore

Hello readers,

This is normally a very light and funny blog, meant to entertain (as I hope it does!). I debated whether or not I should post this here. But, people like South Dakota Governor Mike Rounds put a very large thorn in my hide, and I've got a very tough hide, dear readers. This is an important enough issue for yours truly to be compelled to speak my mind, loudly and publicly. You see, South Dakota has gone and done it - Governor Rounds signed an abortion ban into law. No exceptions for rape or incest. I'm sure it will be tied up in the courts for a while, but that's the whole point; to challenge Roe v. Wade, and send the abortion debate back to the states.

Below I've attached a letter that I emailed to Gov. Rounds. Several other states are now entertaining similar bans. This is really happening, and no one can afford to stay silent. I think it's a great idea to send letters to our respective governors urging them to take a stand against restricting women's privacy and autonomy. You can do so here.

I've never had an abortion, and I don't know whether I would be able to, even if I found myself unexpectedly pregnant. I have friends who have had abortions; I supported them. I have seen the difficulties they faced when making that decision - the gravity with which they weighed their choices. I am enraged when I hear people complain that "women use abortion as a form of birth control", when all of the women I knew had to have abortions because their contraception failed. Besides, it's surgery, people, not a trip to the spa! Christ on a cracker!

I do feel passionately that sex education, widely available contraception, education about sexual violence, and strong support for victims of sexual violence, are the only ways to truly reduce the number of abortions in the US. Regardless, the right to choose whether or not I carry a pregnancy shouldn't be anyone's but mine. Let's not kid ourselves - having the state, rather than a woman and her doctor, decide whether that woman continues a pregnancy or not relegates all women to less-than-human status. And let me be clear - an outright abortion ban violates the 13th amendment of the Constitution, which states that "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."

If forced pregnancy by the state is not slavery, tell me what is. Thank you for listening, and I hope you will take action.

And now, for your reading pleasure:
Governor Rounds,
Congratulations on passing a total abortion ban in your state. Congratulations are definitely in order, as the ban will force traumatized women and teenagers who have been raped to relive the brutality of their attacks day after day, as they carry their rapists' babies to term. Congratulations on establishing a legal right to force young girls whose fathers have raped them to give birth to their own brothers.

Congratulations in advance for increasing the number of women who will die each year from seeking illegal abortions (it has been proven that abortion bans don't stop abortion; they just send it underground). Congratulations on increasing the number of unwanted children born in South Dakota - I'm sure that the affluent white population of your state can't wait to adopt babies born to black and hispanic women who didn't have the financial capability to raise them! I'm sure, Governor Rounds, that you yourself are prepared to adopt one of these children, since you enforced the ban so readily!

You, sir, are a trailblazer; nothing says "culture of life" like passing a law that ruins the lives of those already born. Congratulations on pushing women's rights back 33 years in your state. Most importantly, congratulations for establishing - once and for all - that the women of South Dakota are not people, just baby machines that happen to walk and talk.

You have acted with deplorable self-righteousness, insisting that you are saving innoncent lives, without a thought for the innocent lives that this ban will ruin. How very proud you must feel, and how relieved I am that I live in California.

Sincerely,
Ginger Lime

If you'd like to give Governor Rounds a piece of your mind, as I did, email him here.
Hat tip to Feministing for the graphic above.