There is much debate among those in Middle America about the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA). This act prohibits any legislative body from interfering with a woman’s right to reproductive freedom.  The proposals set forth in the Freedom of Choice Act would guarantee the right to choose for all women in America, no matter who may occupy the White House or control the Legislature.

The right to choose is a fundamental part of the American concept of freedom, and protecting women’s rights is as important to uphold in our courts and legislatures as was the idea that a person of color was more valuable than 3/5 of a person. The principle is the same: a woman, a minority, must have the same rights under the law if we are to stand on our platform as a nation of character and a community of character.

The various provisions of the Freedom of Choice Act can be debated – viability, parental consent etc – but let us not kid ourselves; the fundamental issue at hand is much more simple, it is a debate about abortion, it is a debate about life itself.  The right to choose is a right afforded to women by the 1973 Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade.  Since 1973, it has been repeatedly attacked and undermined by the anti-choice movement.  But the fact is, it is within no one’s rights to impose their own values on another person; it is within no one’s rights to tell a woman what she can and cannot do with her body. The greatest thing about our nation is that it is a place of extraordinary freedom. If those freedoms are undermined by the elected representatives or appointed members of the judiciary, then America loses something; its position as a beacon of freedom dims and it is Congress’ right, not to say duty, to guarantee these rights for posterity.

Underlying the divisive and complex debate surrounding the right to choose is the idea that any one person has the judgment and the wisdom to determine such issues as when a life begins, and can make these judgments with such absolute certainty that they are willing to impose their beliefs on millions of others.  The facts are simple, where abortion is illegal, women still obtain abortions.  However they do so in a black market, unsafe environment, and are subject to imprisonment for exercising their judgment about whether or not they want to use their body to house a fetus for nine months.  Forcing abortion out of mainstream America merely forces women into potentially hazardous situations – situations they should never have to face while the technology and the ability to protect their rights as a nation exists.

The Freedom of Choice Act is just the latest installment of the pro-choice movement to ensure the fundamentally equitable treatment of women and the protection of their rights to choose. There is no provision in the constitution that gives anyone the right to impose their values on others; as a matter of fact, this nation came into existence based on the principle that no one can do that.  We call it the Freedom of Religion and it ensures that anyone can believe anything they choose. The far-right idea that the founding fathers only meant this to include values that jived with their Judeo-Christian values is ludicrous, and the idea that the religious movement’s values, while certainly valid, should be imposed on those of differing opinions is equally ludicrous. They have no right to tell a woman what she can do with her body, they have no right to tell a couple that they cannot marry because it differs from the practices of their beliefs and they have no right to base our laws off of their sacred scriptures. If we allowed this to happen, there would be community stoning for dishonoring the Sabbath.

America is a place where all are welcome.  No one is passing a bill that forces a woman to perform or receive an abortion, FOCA simply gives her the choice to do so. If her values and beliefs differ from others on this matter, that’s fine – it’s perfectly fine to disagree, it is not okay to undermine another’s beliefs simply because they do not agree with our own. That’s the issue here.  It isn’t this bill in particular, it isn’t about any of its particular provisions, but it is about protecting the fundamental values of our country – the values that have created the most free and open society on earth, the values that permit these differences to be openly debated and for no one side’s opinions to be forced upon others.  It is these values that have created a government for ALL the people who live in this great nation, not simply the far right or far left. It is these vary values that inherently protect the rights of the minority and it is these values that are at stake today.

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