Lois Case marches because...

I am marching because I remember the days prior to Roe v Wade. Desperate women could not obtain safe and affordable reproductive services. If they became pregnant and for whatever reason could not carry that pregnancy, they were forced to seek out what were called "back alley" abortions. Too many of these were botched and women either bled to death or we left unable to have children when they felt they were able to provide emotionally, physically and emotionally for a child. Women who had no insurance and contracted an STD could not obtain treatment and again this could result in infertility. Worse, more babies were born with the effects of untreated maternal syphilis.

The drastic cutting of funding for organizations such as Planned Parenthood puts women at risk for all of these horrible outcomes again. Cutting of reproductive care at county health departments means more women will have untreated STDs, more unplanned pregnancies resulting in an ever-growing generational uptick in poverty, hopelessness, and addictions. We can and must do better!

I also March because I too have been the victim of sexual abuse at the age of five and of stalking for four years starting at the age of 13. I was too afraid of my alcoholic and mentally ill mother in the first instance and was told I was imagining things in the second. Discrimination in the workplace was almost an accepted fact of life. No one cared. I also lived during the days when you had to have either a father's or husband's permission to have a credit card. They had to co-sigh loans. My father would not help me apply for student loans or aid for college because he didn't want anyone to know how much he made. He had my mother sign tax returns with the financial information covered up. 

Women should be slaves to no one. We deserve and have a right to control over our lives.