Choices

The US Supreme Court today is hearing a case brought forth by Texas, which challenges the notion of access to abortion. The measure is cloaked under the guise of 'making it safer for women's health' and would require so many new measures from both clinics and women as to make it near impossible to seek that procedure in Texas. 

The event drew several thousand protesters on both sides of the issue (see extra) though I'm told there was a preponderance of pro-choice participants (I unfortunately got there as the protests were breaking up so couldn't document the crowds).

I am so frustrated by what is happening in the US right now, with intolerance, exclusion and us-vs-them movements gaining so much strength. To me, the key to coexisting peaceably is being able to exercise choices in accordance to one's own personal values - whether it is for your own body, your religious beliefs, whom you chose to associate with or any manner of other topics. As long as you have a choice, you can act according to your own values; when that choice is removed, someone else's values might govern your life. I find it mind boggling that, often, the folks most strongly opposed to abortion also happen to favor the death penalty or would scream to high heavens if we were to constrain their ability to secure guns. In the meantime, unless an evenly divided Supreme Court rules otherwise, Texas will be able to proceed...