It's our choice.

I decided to sleep in this morning, rather than freezing my ta-tas off in minus-fifteen degree cold waiting for the bus at 5:30 a.m. As a result, I caught a snippet of the Today show, during which Tim Russert was telling Matt Lauer about what a huge challenge the Democrats face in trying to turn all the "red" states "blue" this November.

Apparently, not only do vastly more Red Staters than Blue Staters go to church, synagogue, or mosque on a regular basis, but 59% of the Red folks think that abortion is the unlawful killing of a child. "Only" 46% of the Blue Staters share this view. This little statistic stayed with me all morning, and I remain horrified and saddened to realize that a majority of Americans still oppose reproductive freedom.

Even more disheartening was the realization that despite having the theoretical upper-hand in the matter for nearly my entire lifetime, we have failed even to correct the lexicon of the abortion debate. Those Red Staters and nearly half of the people in their purportedly-liberal Blue neighbors still control the verbiage, and even intelligent commentators still bandy about loaded labels like "Pro Life" and the equally inaccurate "Pro Abortion."

How can it be that thirty-one years after Roe v. Wade only 41% of the people in blue states and 30% of those in red states think abortion is not murder or manslaughter? That well over half the population nationwide conceptualizes abortion in terms of "killing babies" instead of "saving women's lives," "preventing unwanted pregnancies," "providing options to victims of rape, incest, and domestic violence," and "helping women and families get out of poverty"?

Back at Vassar, I served on the steering committee of the Pro Choice Coalition, and one of my most powerful college experiences came when I marched on Washington, linking arms with thousands of women and men to raise our voice for choice. In the ensuing decade, though, I've become complacent. I shivered in front of the State Capitol last winter at a 30th birthday rally (and hopefully not a wake) for Roe. I give moderate contributions every year to Planned Parenthood and NARAL and respond to their congressional-contact action alerts. But I haven't done much more than that in recent years to protect a woman's right to control her reproductive destiny.

Sure, I think we need to do everything we can to turn those red states blue this election year. Sure, I recognize that the next President is likely to fill several Supreme Court vacancies, and thus to shape American jurisprudence on reproductive freedom and other civil liberties for generations to come. But I also think we need to redouble our other efforts to protect Roe, educate the public about what so-called "abortion rights" really mean, and advance the cause of reproductive freedom for all women, both in the United States and worldwide.

Here are a few organizations that are striving to do just that:
Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains
National Abortion Rights Action League ("NARAL")
Emily's List
The United Nations Population Fund
Catholics for a Free Choice
The Pro-Choice Public Education Project
The Alan Guttmacher Institute
Choice USA

Perhaps one or more of these organizations will interest you -- please consider donating your time, your money, and/or your voice to help them, and all of us who understand that reproductive freedom saves lives.