Yum & Yuk

I unexpectedly spent some of my lunch hour in a yelling match. Specifically, with some protestors outside my local Planned Parenthood. I didn't know they were there, I was just headed to tutor ESL students at the local community college and there they were, gory signs and all. Usually I'm too intimidated to say anything (and I just scurry by with a mean look on my face), but when I saw the protestors today, I saw all the girls and women who would now be too scared to enter the building and, as a result, would be at increased risk for STDs, unwanted pregnancy, and a sense of shame about their own bodies. I saw every woman who doesn't think she has the right to say no to sex, every girl who believes the lies she is told about what's "normal," and every boy or man too scared to talk to his partners about sexual health. Those protestors aren't just voicing their opinions - they are spreading lies and putting other people at risk. I've decided that now, anytime I see a protest outside a PP, I will take the time to cross that protest line, go inside, and thank the workers. That's what I did today, and they were so touched and grateful. It felt like an important human connection, and stopped me from feeling complicit in supporting the protestors with my silence. Women's rights are human rights.