Letters to an Anti-Choice Politician: A Philosphical Commentary on Women's Reproductive Rights and A Diary of My Personal Journey to Motherhood

The following is a post I drafted in 2014, forgot about, and rediscovered and decided to publish now...

Everyone who knows me reasonably well knows how I feel about women's reproductive freedom issues.  My feelings on these issues have intensified - practically exploded - since we've been trying to conceive a baby.  I sense that some shallow-minded anti-choicers struggle to wrap their head around the concept that a woman trying to have a child could become even more pro-choice by the experience.  For example, reactions to Chelsea Clinton's pregnancy included these tweets that nicely reveal the misconceptions and downright ignorance characteristic of extreme anti-choicers.  My conviction that a woman's reproductive decisions should be free of political intrusion is SO STRONG that I decided to share my own, deeply personal, reproductive journey to illustrate the absolute necessity of preserving reproductive rights and the utter absurdity of anything that denies these rights, including "personhood" laws, forced ultrasound laws, and any bans on abortion at whatever number of weeks.

Beyond scientific papers, I've never been much of a writer, and I certainly have no experience in satire or other forms of sardonic expression, so I'm not sure if what I've tried to do here works, so allow me to explain before you start reading.  As the title of this blog post indicates, I've chronicled my journey in trying to get pregnant in the form of letters to a generic anti-choice politician.  The letters are written in a tone of mock naivety ("you know my body best, Defender of All Unborn Life!"), but everything documented in the letters really did happen, to the best of my memory, on the dates indicated (I've kept a detailed log of my cycles, etc., so the dates, events, and especially feelings are largely accurate even though I wrote the letters months later).

Some of these letters get very raw and very graphic.  All are deeply, deeply personal.  They may make you wonder why the hell I put all this out there on the internet for anyone and everyone to see.  I maintain that the anti-choicers started it.  Led by a group comprised largely of white male politicians, they're the ones who believe that anything growing in my womb is THEIR concern.  They believe that anything growing in my womb is a public issue in need of strict, one-size-fits-all regulation.  They are the ones who have taken what should be a deeply private, intimate matter and made it a public, polarizing, mud-slinging spectacle used to score political points.

And so, I now present "Letters to an Anti-Choice Politician: A Philosphical Commentary on Women's Reproductive Rights and A Diary of My Personal Journey to Motherhood."


September 10, 2013

Dear Mr. Eacip (Extreme, Anti-Choice, Intrusive Politician),

I ovulated today!  My husband and I are just starting out in trying to become pregnant, and so I thought you'd want to know.  We had sex at just the right time, and so I think we may have conceived!  According to you and your colleagues, life begins at conception, which I did not realize (whew, thank you for educating me!).  You and your colleagues have deemed yourselves "Defenders of Unborn Life," and thus I intend to keep you abreast of everything that happens in my uterus as my husband and I move forward in our efforts to grow our family.  I'll be relying on you as a valuable resource, as we are new at this, whereas you are an Expert Leader elected to office by a lot of intelligent, clear-thinking people.  More to come soon - until then, take care and thank you!

Sincerely,
Sandra


September 24, 2013

Dear Mr. Eacip,

I am so excited!  It's Day 38 of my cycle and two weeks since I ovulated, so I'm pretty sure I must be pregnant, although I haven't taken the pregnancy test yet.  Don't worry - I've cut out caffeine, alcohol, my migraine medicine, and other stuff that could harm this Unborn Life.  Do you have any other suggestions of what I should be doing?  Looking forward to hearing your wisdom, Defender of Unborn Life.

Sincerely,
Sandra


September 25, 2013,

Dear Mr. Eacip,

WTF?  I got my period today :(  I was so sure I was pregnant not just because it had been 38 days since my period but also because I just felt different.  It's hard to explain, but you're an expert, so you know what I'm talking about.  Sigh.  I wonder, do you think it's possible that conception may have occurred but then the Unborn Life just did not implant?  Or it implanted, but then became non-viable (a chemical pregnancy, in other words)?  If so, was it something I did?  Once again, I look forward to hearing your wisdom, Defender of Unborn Life.

Sincerely,
Sandra


October 15, 2013,

Dear Mr. Eacip,

My body is being so weird, can you explain it to me?  So I've been using the Clear Blue Easy ovulation predictor kits.  As I'm sure you know, they measure both estrogen and luteinizing hormone so you know your days of "high" and "peak" fertility.  Well, this month I got a "high" reading on Day 19, a "low" reading on Day 20, and then my period came the next day!  This is following my previous cycle of 38 days!  I've never had such a short cycle before.  And I'm worried that I apparently did not ovulate in this short cycle.  Hopefully, my cycles will even out soon.  What's your take on all of this?  Once again, I look forward to hearing your wisdom, Defender of Unborn Life.
Sincerely,
Sandra


November 21, 2013

Dear Mr. Eacip,

I was very hopeful this month.  My husband returned from a work trip just in time to have sex before I ovulated on November 7th.  On November 8th I had a TERRIBLE migraine.  It was so bad that I was unable to attend a work function that I had been looking forward to (an evening dinner and biology symposium).  I have prescription migraine medicine that I know is effective, but don't worry, I didn't take it - I know I must put Unborn Life first, even if I'm not certain if there IS any Unborn Life inside of me!  But anyway, I was able to sleep off the migraine in time to run the Outer Banks Marathon on November 10th.  I know what you're thinking:  a marathon?!  when there may be Unborn Life in your uterus?!  I know, I know, I feel terrible about it, too.  Is the marathon the reason my period came today, indicating I'm not pregnant?  Maybe we conceived but then the stress of running a 3 hour, 53 minute 26.2 mile race caused the embryo to not implant...in other words, as you would say, an abortion.  Why did I stay strong in not taking the migraine medicine, but then turn around and run a marathon 2 days later?  I don't know.  Maybe, being a scientist, I thought that because there's no evidence linking exercise to miscarriage that running a marathon would be fine, despite the stress and intensity of it.  Anyway, I swear to you, Defender of Unborn Life, I really do want to have a baby, I really do!  Please don't be mad at me for possibly killing Unborn Life inside my body.  And please don't punish me!  Even though no personhood amendments are yet on the books, I realize you are working hard to change this so that women who harm Innocent Embryos (i.e., Persons) growing inside of them, like I may have done, can be brought to justice.  But I promise I won't do anything so stupid again and I will do everything in my power to make my womb a safe, healthy environment for this Innocent Life that you care so deeply about!  I will do my best in future correspondence to convince you that I am indeed fit to be a mother and cultivate Unborn Life inside of me, despite this slip-up.

Sincerely,
Sandra


March 26, 2014

Dear Mr. Eacip,

OMG, I am SO excited...I'M PREGNANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

June 27, 2014

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/27/us/supreme-court-abortion-clinic-protests.html?_r=0
 
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/jul/21/anti-abortion-activists-clinic-escort
http://www.ahagear.com/products/the-body-inside-your-body-1
http://www.quote-about.com/quotes-about/abortion/abortion-doesnt-make-you-unpregnant-it-makes-you-a-mother-of-a-dead-baby/