Choice is not a women's issue -- It is everyone's issue.
I am repeatedly amazed, and frustrated when I see "Choice" categorized as a women's issue. How can the well-being and civil liberties of 51% of our population be simply a women's issue? It often feels like an attempt to marginalize the majority of our nation's people, as if having a womb made you a special interest group.
The questions that surround Choice—and particularly those measures that interfere with a woman's ability to exercise that choice--affect the very fabric of society. They profoundly impact the freedom of over half our citizens. I do not understand how men can keep a woman's right to choose as somehow separate from their own interests, when the health, welfare and liberty of their sisters and daughters and wives and cousins and friends and colleagues must surely affect their lives as much as their paycheck.
To focus only on the question of civil liberties, however, misses some of the point, particularly for men. For restricting choice does not just hurt women. It hurts our children and puts more weight on our already overburdened social service system. Hillary Clinton will ensure not only that every woman's right to choose the outcome of her pregnancy is protected; she is also the candidate who can help ensure that if a woman chooses to give birth, her child's life will be supported through comprehensive health care, attention to nutrition and enriching education, giving them the life skills to become productive members of our society.
As president, Hillary will work for the rights of children and their mothers, so that every birth can be greeted with joy, and so that children are born into a world that truly protects and celebrates them.
Hillary Clinton is the Pro-Choice candidate. Her record on Choice is impeccable. She deserves our vote for many reasons, but none more critical than this. It is a critical choice for all of us.
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September 6, 2016
Addendum:
Voices4Hillary invites you also to read Hillary and the Future of Abortion Rights by Linda J. Wharton, co-counsel, Planned Parenthood vs. Casey. If you care about reproductive health and abortion rights as an issue, and worry about 4 possible appointments to SCOTUS, that makes Hillary's election an imperative. Click here.
