New Blogger in Your Midst

Hello, all! My name is Ali and I will be posting here, starting next week. I’d like to thank the wonderful Cara, KaeLyn, and Erin for this opportunity. You guys rock and roll!

A little about me:

I’m 33 and live in Rochester, NY. I’ve been volunteering with Planned Parenthood for about two years. In 2006 and 2007, I helped staff their information table at the NY State Fair; I’ve also assisted with staffing the 2007 Regional Vox conference and the 2008 V-Day production of The Vagina Monologues.

This is my first time blogging, so I’m very excited! To explain a bit about what inspired me to action (and at the risk of committing literary tackiness and laziness) I’d like to heavily quote myself. From a “Why I Volunteer” piece that I wrote for Planned Parenthood’s fall, 2007 Informed Choice newsletter:

I was born in 1974, one year after Roe V. Wade. I was raised pro-choice by a pro-choice mother. For the majority of my life, abortion rights were assumed. […] Reproductive rights didn’t need to be talked about, they didn’t need to be fought for, they just. . .were.

For 31 years, I coasted along, secure in my assumption of basic human rights. Sure, every now and then some anti-choice activity or political move would make the news, but I wasn’t worried. I admit it; I was complacent.

In early 2006, I received my wakeup call. I stumbled across an online article about a proposed abortion ban in South Dakota. I literally couldn’t believe what I was reading. [...] When I finished the article, I came to the gut-churning realization that the legislature of South Dakota was, in fact, proposing a bill that would ban all abortions, with only one exception for the life of the mother.

I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. I had a difficult time processing the fact that, in this country, in 2006, a law so extreme and barbaric was being seriously considered. After I pulled myself together, I did some searching online for more information on the bill and surrounding issues. My search led me to many political and feminist blogs.

I was consumed by the information I found. Article after article detailed the assault being made on reproductive rights all across the country. I was sickened and terrified. Slowly but surely, I realized that the rights and freedoms I had always taken for granted were being seriously threatened. I realized that there is indeed a need to think about reproductive rights. To talk about them. To fight for them.

And that pretty much brings us up to speed. I hope that some of you will be inspired to talk and fight, as well.