Reflections on the 2017 Women's March

I am a Pro-Life Christian Who Attended the Woman’s March and Supports Planned Parenthood: Let Me Tell You Why.

Okay, so I know that there has been an overload of opinions in the social media universe lately. It seems that everywhere you look there is disagreement on every issue. I try my best to stay engaged without crossing the line to unnecessary noise. But there is one issue that has been swimming around my news feed that I really want to address: the issue of abortion and Planned Parenthood.

You see, often I have friends who assume just because I tend to lean more liberal (although to be honest, I am pretty moderate), that I am pro-choice. Most recently, I encountered a verbal attack –that might be a bit strong but hear me out – because I attended the women’s march in DC, which some deem to simply have been a pro-choice event. My experience, however, was something so much different. If you could bear with me for a few paragraphs, then I would like to open a window into how I feel on a very personal and very important topic. So here we go. First, I am going to straight out explain why I am pro-life and what that looks like in my life. Then, I will proceed to talk about my experience at the Woman’s march and why the march was important. Lastly, I will cover why I unapologetically support Planned Parenthood. Please, if you have made it this far, do me the honor of reading to the end, before passing judgement.

Disclaimer: The rest of this blog is in no way intended to accuse anyone of any wrongdoing based on their faith. It is simply the conclusions that I have come to on the subject from both first-hand and statistical study.

Pro-Life, not Pro-Fetal Life

This argument has been around Facebook a lot the last few days and it has made me so glad! It is actually nice to not feel alone, but for the sake of clearing up some things, here is what I mean when I say that I am pro-life.

When I first started to have opinions about things, I decided that I was personally pro-life, but publicly pro-choice. What I mean is, I thought, I would never have an abortion, but who am I to say any one else shouldn’t? But as I got older and started to truly understand what I thought about abortion based on my faith and my view of the world and humanity, I realized that that was logically inconsistent. If I believed that there was life at conception, that couldn’t be true just inside of me. It had to also be true inside of others too.

But, now I had a crisis. How do I move forward in love? I had been around pro-life people who believed that the issue was cut and dry, and I didn’t want that for my own viewpoint. I had also gone through an abortion with one of my really dear friends and saw the havoc it took on her life and emotions. So, I did the two things I do best:

1. I started to pray and 2. I started to read.

And almost immediately, during my senior year of college, God started to truly convict me. He said, if you claim to be pro-life in my name, you better mean it. From that point on, I started to explain to people, that yes, I am pro-life but that logically requires me to be pro-gay, criminal, black, white, trans, lesbian, Hispanic, fetal, poor, rich, Muslim life, etc. For me, to be pro-life in God’s name, is to sacrifice it all for those who may not ever love you back. It is to love and take care of those who may not ever be able to pay you back. And mostly, it is to focus all of my worldview, on the fact that everyone is made in the image of God. Period.

This dramatically changed how I viewed every policy and every person in the context of the abortion conversation. So what does this look like in practice? It looks like pursing policies that lead to better and cheaper healthcare for women so that maybe abortion is not the most attractive option. It looks like providing information and education on contraceptives so that maybe abortion is not on the table. It looks like allowing programs that help people not struggle in poverty for the rest of their life so that maybe, just maybe they can afford to bring a child into this world. It looks like not judging women if at the end of the day they end up deciding that abortion is the option they must take. It also looks like making dang sure that if a woman has to have an abortion, it is a safe one. And lastly, but surely not least, it looks like working hard for equal pay and equal treatment of women in the workforce so that they don’t have to choose between having a family and having a career. For me, being pro-life requires that I also care about the women who are having to face this difficult choice, which leads me to my next point.

Women: We Still Got Work To Do

I must say, I am new to activism. Growing up, I read about all of the civil rights protests and the sit-ins and deep-down, I yearned to be a part of a movement. Last, week when I attended the march in Washington, it was invigorating. There were people from all walks of life, all nationalities, and believe it or not, all faiths. And sure, people were upset and there is unity in misery, but everyone was hopeful. Hopeful for the future and hopeful for what we can do to stand up against misogyny, racism, and sexism.

Now, I had a lot of friends say things such as, “That was not really a women’s march” or they talked solely about what Madonna did (who I actually was annoyed with and she did not represent the march as a whole). But those people missed the point. At that march, immigrants were welcomed, Muslims were welcomed, Christians were welcomed, and Black people were welcomed – and I am just mentioning people who spoke at the rally. It was a battle cry. A battle cry to say, "Women matter and we are not going backwards."

I also heard people say, things such as “the left is only accepting, if you agree with them.” And yes, that may be true of some people, but that was not what I experienced. I actually had an engaging conversation with a person about my vision of reproductive rights and we disagreed, but remained cordial. I was nice and cordial and so were they, and although fundamentally our foundations were different, neither of us shut down and decided that we couldn’t talk to one another. We kept talking through our disagreement and ended up getting to common ground. That is the goal right?

One last thing, I just want to quickly share with you why I personally marched. This past year, say what you want, but racism and sexism has had a reinvigorated. As an African-American woman, I start at what society deems the bottom of the food chain. But as I have been in law school, I see the strides that my people have made over the last 100 years and I refuse to not be a part of that legacy. I can’t stay silent and I won’t stay silent about injustice because it only takes one moment for it to be me who is being treated unjustly. I can’t and won’t stay silent because my faith COMPELS me to fight for those who don’t have the privilege of being where I am in life, that’s why I march.

I also marched on that Saturday, simply as a woman who has experienced sexual assault. I won’t go into details, because this is not the time or the place. But what I know is there are a lot of women out there staying silent. There are a lot of little girls out there staying silent. Why? Because we live in a culture that tells them no one will believe them or tells them you better have not been asking for it. I did not ask for it, I did not want it, but I will fight so that no one else has to experience what I did. I will fight so that our justice system protects those who are ostracized based on their gender or sexual orientation. I will fight for those who are not deemed as worthy of the same paycheck as a man because of their gender; I will fight for every little girl that dreams that she can be anything in the world, only to look to see that, that dream stops at president. Please don’t ask me to stop fighting, because my faith and my humanity won’t let me.

Planned Parenthood: Because Poor Women Need Doctors Too

This one is a new one for me. Before last year, I didn’t really have an opinion on Planned Parenthood. I knew that they provided health services and I knew that if you needed an abortion that was a place you could go. In fact, if I am honest, like most people I know, I seriously thought that abortions was all that they did. Then, in the middle of the semester last year, I needed to see a doctor for a very personal reason. Unfortunately, my doctor at home was pretty full and the school doctor doesn’t take my insurance, so I started looking for doctor’s in Williamsburg.

I ran across the Planned Parenthood in Hampton. My first thought was, I can’t go there, that is for abortions. But, it turned out that no other place could fit me in, so I went to make an appointment online. Their online interface was very helpful, literally the easiest appointment making that I have ever had to do. Right at the end when you confirm your appointment there is a little * with a statement that made me sick to my stomach. It said, “Park in the back. And remember you do not have to interact with protesters.”

Immediately I started to feel bad. Here I am going to a doctor, who takes my insurance, who could get me in an appointment the very next day, who was seeing me not for an abortion, and they had to warn me, warn me, that I did not have to interact with people who would be protesting abortions, something that doesn’t even affect my visit. I was convicted. I could only imagine if I actually were going in for something as personal and hard to deal with as an abortion. The emotional turmoil that women who have to make that decision must go through shook me to my very core. At that moment, it didn’t feel like being on the side of pro-life equaled love.

I digress. Anyway, so on the day of my actual appointment, I lucked out and there were no protesters. I also lucked out because I had THE BEST doctor experience of my life. First off, everyone was so nice to me and even though I was there for something delicate, they did not treat me with any type of judgement. It was simply care, they gave me the utmost care. Also, while I was there I had the opportunity of observing other patients. There was a woman who came in, who was very pregnant. She looked like she was probably around seven months or so and she was crying. Why? Because she had just lost her job and she no longer had insurance. (I was ease dropping, but God was teaching me a lesson). The receptionist literally came from behind the protected window, set with her, assured her everything would be all right and begin to tell her about her medical options. She also assured her that she would be able to see a doctor that day to make sure that her baby was healthy. I was floored and again I was convicted.

Everything I experienced that day, felt like love. I am not exaggerating when I say, I literally could sense the image of God in every nurse and every doctor. And yes, they still probably perform abortions at this Planned Parenthood. But as I mentioned earlier, issues are never black and white. Because of this visit, I went home and did some research. You know, only roughly .3 percent of Planned Parenthood’s overall services deal with abortion? .3 percent. The rest is fully centered on female and male healthcare. They check for STIs and HIV. They provide pregnancy services and normal healthcare. And guess what? Those services are given to those of lower income who can’t afford health services elsewhere. Oh, and this is a kicker, the federal money they receive isn’t even allowed to pay for abortions, that money can only come from private donors. But anyway, that is all beside the point. The point is I support them, because in my experience, Planned Parenthood is for some, the only medical option there is and I cannot sleep at night knowing that some of these women and children would never be able to see a doctor if we were to de-fund Planned Parenthood.

Now, my long rant is now over, I hope that this discussion helped you or at least showed you that my views are shaped by my beliefs, even if they look different than yours. I pray, that as a society we learn to fight injustice together, because when we don’t everyone suffers. I will leave you with this:

“Thus says the Lord: Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place. For if you will indeed obey this word, then there shall enter the gates of this house kings who sit on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their servants and their people. But if you will not obey these words, I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that this house shall become a desolation.” Jeremiah 22:3-5