I've been told my equal rights just aren't pragmatic

[calimary]

110. THANK YOU, BainsBane!

THANK YOU for pointing this out.

THANK YOU for putting this on the table.

And THANK YOU for the obviously MUCH-needed reminder. I am NOT willing to settle for a "D" just for the sake of a "D" - who'll vote like an "R" when it comes to the #1 issue of concern to me as a woman. All these years since Roe v Wade have turned me basically into a one-issue voter. A litmus-test voter. My first question to ANY candidate will be about where he or she stands on my right to choose. Whether he or she is okay with shoving the federal (or state) government up inside my vagina or higher - into the most intimate parts of MY body. That body is MINE. NOT THEIRS.

And after that, it really doesn't matter to me what they stand for, even if I agree with most of it. If they're not with me on the choice issue, then that tells me they really can't be counted on to be with me on other issues - especially those involving women. That is the gateway issue to my heart. And if a candidate can't get through that gateway, everything else about him or her is basically a non-starter. Because no matter how good it might look or sound, it's a no-go.

I'd really like to hear the men in power try to explain to me why no one else is EVER allowed to have final jurisdiction over their dicks or their scrotal sacs, but (mostly male-led) government is allowed to get its grubby paws all over my vagina and uterus and ovaries.

We have seen, widely and clearly demonstrated, in real time, in public and in private - that those precious rights we've fought and struggled to win can VERY easily be taken away, and if it's not in one big sweeping move, then it's with a thousand tiny cuts that seek to erode that right around the edges and then working in toward the heart of the matter. The struggle to protect and maintain the rights granted through Roe v Wade has been ongoing FROM THE START. And too many Democrats were NOT militant about it, NOT vigilant about it, as usual, rolled over and went back to sleep thinking it was all okay and this thing is fixed now and no need to worry about it anymore, and no, there aren't any barbarians at the gate.

And look where we are now. The LAST thing we need is to start letting a lot of anti-choice people in. Because they'll do what they always try to do: take over. And do away with that right.

Won't happen as long as I have a vote to cast.