National Blog for Choice Day

Today is National Blog for Choice Day - the 39th anniversary of the landmark Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision. In honor of the occasion, NARAL Pro-Choice America has called on like-minded, pro-choice citizens to blog about how we will do our part to elect pro-choice candidates in 2012.

Not surprisingly, right now most of the choice-issue focus seems to be on the national scale, especially the presidential race. A nice overview of where Obama and Romney stand on these issues can be found here. But instead I'd like to turn our attention to state-level politics, because this is arena where the damage done is more real, effective, and critical. In other words, real women are affected every day by state-level legislation concerning their reproductive rights. If you've been reading my blog in the past couple years, you're no doubt familiar with my musings on North Carolina's abysmal record when it comes to abortion access - see here for a quick overview of these restrictions.

So, I'll keep this short and sweet: my part in electing pro-choice candidates in 2012 will be to implore each of you to (1) look up your state representatives if you don't know who they are already; (2) look into their voting record on pro-choice and anti-choice policies; (3) figure out if these candidates are up for re-election this year; and finally (4) vote with your conscience - should a crummy politician really have a say in your and your partner's reproductive health or should that be a personal decision between you and your medical professional?

Thanks for reading.