PRO-CHOICE FOR LIFE!

Here's Rebecca, me and Amelia at the table outside of the screening. We made this banner last year and it appears in the film. Yesterday I had an upsetting email exchange with a former friend who I went to high school with. He's become a crazy pro-lifer. I watched a really disturbing video he posted to his myspace blog today which is just full of absurd claims about abortion, that Roe v. Wade guaranteed abortion up to 9 months, and that abortion was used as birth control etc etc. I had to tell the friend that I could no longer let him have access to me electronically because of the many hundreds of activists and providers who have been murdered over the years for their pro-choice activism. I'm worried that he'll allow me to be endangered through knowing about my pro-choice activities. Here's a bit of what I wrote: Dear [pro-life friend from high school], I've decided to end our [electronic] connection because I'm worried that you'll facilitate the endangerment of my life for my pro-choice activism. Hundreds of doctors and pro-choice activists have been assaulted and killed over the years for our important work. I'm happy to engage you in a dialogue about choice but having viewed some of the groups you are in they look as though they might tend toward extreme action against people working to keep abortion SAFE and legal. I also think it might serve you well to come and see the documentary I am in "Speak Out: I Had an Abortion" to learn about my having an abortion after being in an abusive relationship... In the end, I am fiercely dedicated to building a world full of happy babies whose parents are prepared to love and take care of children. When I had an abortion in 2000, I was in college and would have done a great injustice to raise a child who I wasn't ready for, whose father was [abusive]. Furthermore, access to safe and legal abortion is incredibly important, as approximately 80,000 women die annually from lack of access to safe and legal abortion. You can hear about my story and the documentary in the Nation, Glamour and the next edition of Our Bodies, Ourselves. Best regards, [antlers] pro-choice for life.