I'm not out to change anyone's mind, but I wanted to share a story. I work at the VA, in research. I was interviewing an older black man for a study, and at one point he stopped and started talking about abortion. We as employees are not supposed to talk about politics, so if we are ever asked we defer and just nod our heads and when given a chance move on. So I girded my lions for the ride and listened.
He said, I'm a Baptist minister. And I was raised and taught to be pro-life. That is, until I was in the room when my wife was giving birth. I held her hand. I could see what she went through to give birth, the pain and this was a regular birth and she WANTED this baby. I can't imagine putting someone through that who did not want to be there, who was scared. And I realized this was not my decision to make. Ever since I saw my wife give birth I have been pro-choice." I replied something non-committal like "I am glad that you could be there for her" but it almost made me cry.
All women all over the world have to carry a burden that men do not. It starts usually around 12 or 13, when we get our periods. Yes there is the pms, the monthly periods. But what I am talking about is even though I only had a dim understanding of sex at age 12, it was my burden from that point forward if any man had sex with me (either with my permission or without) I could get pregnant. No man understands what that means. If you are pro-life, to me, it is saying you are comfortable with half the population being 2nd class citizens to the other half. That my uterus comes before me as an individual, a person.
I am privileged that I was middle class, was relatively sheltered, had sex education, was able to purchase birth control when I wanted. I could choose my sexual partners. But I know many many females do not have those privileges. And if I am privileged, what does it make all men, who on one hand never had to worry about this in the first place, and on the other are the ones making and enforcing the laws of female reproductive rights? It's not a religious issue, or a moral one. It's a human rights issue.