Say Goodbye to Your Reproductive Rights

Dear Mom,
In 2004 you told me you were going to vote for George W. Bush, you told me that there would only be one reason why you wouldn't vote for him and that was abortion rights. You told me that George W. Bush wouldn't nominate a justice to the Supreme Court that would overturn Roe v. Wade. You said that his wife and daughters don't want to see abortion outlawed and they wouldn't let George W. Bush appoint someone to the Supreme Court who would overturn Roe v. Wade. He wouldn't appoint someone like Samuel Alito or John Roberts who would overturn Roe. How naive you were.
Now the religious wingnuts in the South Dakota legislature have passed a law banning virtually every abortion in the state. The wingnut governor is going to sign the law. Planned Parenthood will fight it in court. But why should you care? You're 61, you don't need abortion rights like you did back in the early 1970s. Remember? You had an abortion, a legal one because you were lucky enough to live in California when it had the most liberal abortion laws in the country. I'm 39, my sister is 37, our prime reproductive years are behind us. However, we may need the option and I like to keep my options open. (And I have a bone to pick with my sister too. She voted for Bush too.) Your granddaughters (my nieces) will probably face a future where a pharmacist with a morality complex will not fill their prescriptions for birth control pills. Or worse yet, live in a community like Ave Maria, Florida where the doctors and pharmacists have promised the founder to not prescribe or stock contraceptives. You lived through those bad old days, why do you want that for your granddaughters? I know, you are not an one issue voter. So why do you vote Republican? Are they good for the economy? Do you think tax cuts are more important than your right? Voting Republican is good for businesses? How long did it take for the stock market to recover from the crash of 2000? Do you feel richer than you did in 2000? No, I didn't think so. Do you vote Republican because you are a fiscal conservative? The last time we had a balanced budget was during the Clinton years.
Mom, it's not enough to donate money to Planned Parenthood and NARAL and then vote Republican. Because the bottom line is, voting matters. And voting for politicians who thinks your rights are negotiatiable does not preserve your rights or anyone else's.
And I wouldn't worry about Jenna, Barbara and Noelle Bush. They come from rich families who can afford to fly them to Sweden or the Netherlands for a nice, safe abortion to get rid of any embarrassing, unwanted pregnancies. I don't think your granddaughters will have that option.
Love,
Your daughter