My body, my choice

Years ago, I read The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood.

The story takes place in a near-future United States, now known as the Republic of Gilead. In this new society, women are not permitted to have jobs or money of their own, or even the most basic freedoms. They are assigned to various classes: some are Wives, sterile, childless, but superior in station by virtue of their husband's place in the heirarchy; some are Marthas, or housekeepers; and those who have borne at least one child are Handmaids, who rotate from married couple to married couple and serve as surrogate mothers, assuming, of course, they manage to conceive. We see this world through the eyes of Offred, a Handmaid, who longs for her life "before", when she had a husband and a home and a family of her own. Gradually, we understand that a declining birth rate triggered an extreme right-wing religious coup, resulting in a new theocratic government designed to control women and their reproductive abilities.

It is still the most frightening book I've ever read.

( Oh, the times, they are a-changin'....or are they? )

I am one small person in one small town. My power is my vote. And I vote pro-choice. I urge you to do the same. The Republic of Gilead is closer than we think.
~~~~~
A contribution to the Blog Against Theocracy Blogswarm, July 1-4, 2007.

Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice
First Freedom First
Theocracy Watch
Americans United for Separation of Church and State
Sojourners