Use your voice and your vote. Support a woman's right to choose.

The question arrived in my email inbox one day: “Where do you stand on abortion? Are you pro-life, or pro-choice? This is not a political question, but a moral question for you.”

            The writer mentioned volunteering at Birthright, “a pro-life pregnancy Center” and wanted my view from a “moral stance.”

            If this is a question about morality, then here’s my answer:

            I think it’s immoral that men are making laws about what women can and cannot do with their uterus, decisions that will impact women for the rest of their lives.

            I think it’s immoral that a church that doesn’t allow women to have positions of power in its hierarchy -- none of its popes, cardinals, bishops or priests have a uterus --donated millions of dollars all over the country to support a political cause that strips women of their choice over whether to carry a pregnancy to term or not.

            I think it’s immoral every time there are more men than women at the table in making decisions and raising money about women’s bodies and their private choices.

            I think it’s immoral that a Catholic school in New Jersey fired an unmarried teacher because she got pregnant, violating the school’s code of ethics about having no sex outside of marriage. The church offered no moral or financial support for her decision to ‘choose life.’ Sadly, the New Jersey Supreme Court sided with the church.

            I think it’s immoral that the Catholic church gave $6 million to oppose reproductive choice in Michigan. How much of that money came from women in the pews? Ladies, it’s time to leave a church that left you long ago.

            I think it’s immoral every time a priest – who has no uterus -- uses the pulpit for political purposes to speak out against the rights of women. Ladies, please leave during that speech. Vote with your feet.

            I think it’s immoral that Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and Cleveland Bishop Edward Malesic (men again) oppose the rights of women to choose whether to have a baby. Wealthy GOP donor Umberto Fedeli (another man) hosted them at a big fundraiser. These three men are fighting to oppose the abortion-rights ballot issue that will impact women, not men.

            I think it’s immoral that there’s a whole pile up of men willing to block a woman’s right to choose, including Lt. Gov. Jon Husted, U.S. Rep. Max Miller, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Bernie Moreno, Atty. General Dave Yost and State Auditor Keith Faber.

            That’s a lot of people who don’t have a uterus telling those of us who have one what we can and cannot do with ours.

            The money goes to Protect Women Ohio. What a joke of a name. It’s a blatant lie. This isn’t about protecting women. It’s about stripping them of their rights to choose whether they want to have a baby – a baby the Church and politicians and wealthy donors won’t be around to raise.

            You want to protect women?

            Urge all men to get a vasectomy so their partners are never faced with an unwanted pregnancy decision. Put up billboards. Create Vasectomy Sunday in your church. Pass out literature on the procedure. Invite a surgeon to speak from the pulpit to prevent the need for abortions. Make men part of the solution.

            Provide free birth control pills for women. An over-the-counter pill becomes available next year.

            Encourage and support sex education in schools to reduce unwanted pregnancies in children and teens.

            Help women who do choose to carry a baby to term. Offer childcare alternatives. The Catholic Church could make that its mission: free and reduced childcare.

            Offer free diapers and formula for new babies. Create a drop off pantry in every church parking lot. You’ve seen those Little Free Libraries. The Catholic Church could build Baby Boxes and ask people to fill them every single Sunday with diapers, baby food and formula. The church has made its mission to stop abortion; it can make its mission to support babies and the women who have them.

            Politicians can do more to lower childcare costs. The cost of daycare and preschool rose 6 % in July over last year, almost double the inflation rate.  

            I believe women can and should make their own reproductive decisions about birth control, fertility treatments, ending a pregnancy or carrying a pregnancy to term.

            So the answer to the question is yes.

            I am pro-life and I am pro-choice.

I support the right of every woman to make the choice that is right for her.