I urge the President and Congress to adopt and enforce a new Global Gag Rule that furthers true freedom and equality for women and girls.
I do so because I believe that no woman is truly free unless she has bodily autonomy and the right to decide all matters related to her body and all else in her life. This includes reproductive choices, such as contraceptive options and access to safe, legal abortion.
I also believe in separation of church and state and in liberty of conscience. One person's religious liberty ends where another's begins, meaning one has the right to believe as one wishes, however, one does not have the right to impose their beliefs upon others or legislate them broadly.
By their nature, all reproductive matters are highly intimate and personal. Each person has the right to privacy, self-agency, bodily-autonomy, and to determine what is right for them regarding reproduction.
Thus, it is time for a new Global Gag Rule Supporting Female Freedom and Equality that reads as follows:
Henceforth,
with respect to the matter of abortion
and other reproductive matters
all persons born in a body incapable of
becoming pregnant,
and anyone born in a body capable of
becoming pregnant who wishes
to impose their beliefs and choices
upon others,
SHALL JUST KEEP QUIET!
This gag order may be lifted in such instances where persons of the aforementioned groups wish to say:
I honor and respect you, dear female person.
I understand that it is your inalienable right
to be in charge of every aspect of your life,
including your body
and what happens with it.
I respect your sensibilities, thinking,
and decisions.
How can I support you?
Establishing this new Global Gag Rule is an important step in securing true female freedom and equality because the freedom of women and girls is in reality what is at stake in the continuing battle regarding access to safe and legal abortion and, now, even contraception. There should be no question or shaming debate about the inherent worth and freedom of each uterined-American (and those formerly so) and her right to be in charge of what goes on in her life and body and make all choices regarding these according to her own conscience and morals. It's time for such disrespect to end.
Because I believe each woman and girl deserves to be free and respected, here in America and everywhere in the world, I wholeheartedly advocate the adoption of this new Global Gag Rule Supporting Female Freedom and Equality as an important step toward ensuring liberty and justice for all females.
* Petition image: Istock.com/4FR
