Virginia Pro-Choice Day of Action

D-11
S-21

I support education, prevention, and health care.

My name is Virginia. I am 16, and I go to an all-girls, private, Catholic school. This is a picture of my little sister, Lauren, who is 14, and I during Christmas. We both stand up to protect the rights of women and their bodies in Virginia and everywhere in the world. Our government does not have the right to tell anyone what they can and can’t do with their body, or set up restrictions for health care. I am sure if the government was going to tell men that they would have to, I don’t know, undergo a procedure that limits and restricts something that has to do with their bodies, they would be on the streets in protest. I am named after the state of Virginia, and I want my name to reflect a state that is active in protecting all rights for all people.

My sister and I are Pro-Choice, and proud.

Delegate: John M. O’Bannon, III (Republican)

Senator: Walter A. Stosch (Republican)

My name is Christina and I’m a college student majoring in English, and Gender, Sexuality & Women’s Studies. I find all of these political attacks on women, their bodies and their health care to be atrocious & incredibly unjustified. It’s a human right to have choices over your own life and your own body; why would anyone want to take those rights away? If it’s to gain more power in the political world, that’s not the correct way to go about it, especially if these political representatives want to be re-elected. In that regard, the political representatives who are putting together and going along with this awful legislation are not only hurting the women and the people who love them, but they are also hurting themselves. Think about the boundaries you’re crossing and the people you are letting down. Think about your wives, your daughters, your nieces, your girlfriends, all of the women that mean something to you – would you want any of them having to deal with the issues you’re trying to get other women to deal with regarding birth control or lack thereof, health care, abortion, etc.?

I am pro-choice but that does not mean I am all about abortions; any right-minded person does not like the idea of abortions one bit, but to have the choice to have one in the case of a bad situation or whatever the circumstance is what matters to women (and the women and men who love them) like me. Why should we have to justify our reasoning to the government of having an abortion (if the need arises) when it is our bodies that will be going through with an abortion and not the bodies of the government? Why should the government be allowed to ensure we didn’t somehow kill the fetus in our womb if a miscarriage occurs when, again, it is through our bodies that this can happen in and not through the bodies of the government?

I ask that the politicians who have tried to attack women with these political issues put their issues to rest; realize that you’re only hurting the women in your lives, yourselves and other women who have never done anything wrong; who have only ever tried to live their lives as peacefully as possible. Please reconsider; please think about all of the people who deserve the right to choice; who deserve the right to live the lives they wish. Everyone deserves a life of choice and dignity but if any of this legislation gets passed, both will disappear for the women of our nation and that will only cause issues in our society and leave many people feeling abandoned, down and, basically, like prisoners in their own homes. When we live in a land where freedom is valued above all else, no one should ever have to feel that way.

 71st and 9th Districts 

Delegate district 17

Senator district 19

Roanoke County, Virginia.

legislators should be focused on the real issues facing Virginians like jobs, education etc.