Skip to content

Link: Why I Lost Faith in the Pro-Choice Movement

Yes, it definitely has an attention grabbing headline, but it also raises several really good points:

I was looking through a Time magazine article whose infograph cited data from the Guttmacher Institute about the most common reasons women have abortions. It immediately struck me that none of the factors on the list were conditions that we tell women to consider before engaging in sexual activity. Don’t have the money to raise a child? Don’t think your boyfriend would be a good father? Don’t feel ready to be a mother? Women were never encouraged to consider these factors before they had sex; only before they had a baby.

The fundamental truth of the pro-choice movement, from which all of its tenets flow, is that sex does not have to have life-altering consequences. I suddenly saw that it was the struggle to uphold this “truth” that led to all the shady dealings, all the fear of information, all the mental gymnastics that I’d observed.

That’s a bold claim: sex does not have to have life-altering consequences. Do you agree?

found via my friend Tim

San Francisco Roundup

Thanks to everyone’s suggestions (including some write-ins over email), I had a great time in San Francisco!

Thursday night Matt and Marta surprised me with pickup from the airport and a late night Thai food run.

On Friday, I hit up Blue Bottle Coffee and got some personal stuff taken care of. Then rode the cable car up to the Cable Car Museum. I walked down to Fisherman’s Wharf by way of Lombard Street. I played in the Musee Mecanique, “one of the world’s largest privately owned collections of mechanically operated musical instruments and antique arcade machines” — also known as an engineers dream. I took the trolley and then switch to a bus to meet Audrey and Griffin for dinner at the food trucks.

Matt cajoled me into running a trail race Saturday morning. While he and his cohorts opted for the half-marathon, I stuck with the 5 mile and placed first in Males 20-24.

Screen Shot 2013-03-08 at 11.05.01 PM

I can only presume this is a typo since I’m actually 27, but they’re sending me an award ribbon!

Taco’s and late night apres dinner beer and desert conversations with some of Matt’s friends rounded off the evening.

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. But to quote the former governor, I’ll be back.

Deep Thoughts From Team Chauncey

Chauncey must be learning good things at school. Here’s his latest insight:

It occurs to me that we’ve been taught to believe a lie

That brokenness in our world (and ourselves) is absolute

The person you or I am cannot change

Scars, the lie says, are signs of a wound

Pain is to be feared, safety is to be protected

We ought to remain as intact as possible

It so happens that the truth is much more complex

Healing almost always comes with pain

Risk often opens the doorway to joy

Allowing yourself to be transformed is where life is found

Scars, the truth says, are the artwork of the healer

How hard it is to hear and trust the whispers

That in time, all will be made well

What To Do In San Francisco?

I’m leaving for a short trip to San Francisco tonight for — gasp — pleasure! Rachel’s will be in Bozeman for wedding planning and family time, and I’ve owed Matt a visit for a long time. I also have a handful of other friends (Audrey/Griffin, Shanan) Question is, what should I do? I get in late tonight (Thursday) and leave early Sunday afternoon.

I wanted to go to the Exploratorium1, but they’re closed while they move in to their new place.

The Bay Model Visitor Center2 also looks interesting.

I’ll be based out of the Haight neighborhood, what’s a nerd to do on vacation in San Fran?

Also, what’s the best way to get around? I have a free car rental I could use, but will parking be disastrous?

  1. this has been on my list since at least 2007, says my del.icio.us bookmark ↩

  2. this has been on my list since at least 2007, says my del.icio.us bookmark ↩