I suppose it’s a natural consequence of not wanting to talk on the phone so late (and trying to relax after getting bitten by dozens of mosquitoes while working outside). I just lost my cool and all the issues that’ve been coming up lately–the abortion-bans, creationist rhetoric, etc.–burst out of me.

My dad’s friend called to check up on me and somehow politics came in. I guess it was him reminiscing about my dad and how he always ended up talking politics with him.

I don’t remember what I said, but somehow we got into it. And it was about the abortion bans going on.

What drove me nuts were the old standard tropes I’d always heard, like how most people who get abortions are black, that black women don’t wanna work and just wanna push out babies to get government benefits (the “welfare queens” thing–sheesh, didn’t Reagan trot that one out?), that they’re killing God’s children, etc.

I said God sanctioned abortions in the Old Testament, and what about the people already here?

He started talking about how we’d really be in a mess if Hillary got elected.

I said at least we wouldn’t be a world laughingstock like we are now, and if somebody would take DT’s phone away for 24 hours, it would be a nice break.

He said that the Dems wanna take all the money from the rich and give it to the poor who don’t work.

I said it was unlikely considering we’re ruled by the rich, Democrat and Republican alike, and they’d be slitting their own throats.

He said that Dems wanna take everybody’s guns.

I said that even if they wanted to, there’s no way they’d be able to get away with it–second amendment and all. Yes, many would like some restrictions, but even those who hate guns, like me, would understand why somebody would need to have a few at home as long as they were responsible.

Besides, this is Texas, there’s no way they’d get away with that here…not with a dozen guns behind every door.

It all went rapid-fire after that. I just know what was on my mind was the abortion bans and how strict they are, and what the agenda is there.

When he went in about someone not wanting the baby at the nine-month mark, and the doctor would come slit it’s throat and kill it, I REALLY got pissed.

Nobody does that. Nobody would dream of doing that.

Where the hell did that come from?

Was that an extension of the partial-birth abortion thing I’d been spoon fed in church and by all my Republican family members since I was a little kid?

Sheesh. I just said “uh, that’s where adoption comes in”

Anyway, I managed to get us off the phone in relatively reasonable time (quicker than I usually manage in these situations) because I figured he was arguing about one thing, and I was going on about something else. It quickly ended when I got us back to what I was talking about: the rights of young women/girls who are victims of rape or incest, like that 11-year old in Ohio.

He hadn’t heard of that one.

Of course, after looking the case up again, I found some other stuff I hadn’t seen before (namely the victim’s rebellious nature) but let’s face it…there’s an awful lot of rape and incest with pre-teen kiddos going on in this country. If not this one, then the next.

I also brought up in some states (and admitted I wasn’t sure which) that a rapist that leaves a victim pregnant can try to sue for parental rights. I don’t know how freaking stupid a judge would have to be to GRANT it, but I know they can try in several states. (This particular list is two years old from CNN.com, but it’s definitely an improvement. Fingers crossed that all states have protection for victims soon if not already)

Thankfully, in Texas, the odds of a rapist getting custody rights to his “attack offspring” are pretty low to nil.

No guarantees it’ll stay that way, though, especially if the people I know keep talking about the need to have a two parent household. That particular “family” scenario’s freaking terrifying to me.

I admit, I don’t like the idea of abortion, but I do think it has to be an option. I used to not believe in it at all and thought it was wrong, but when a petition came up to keep the option open, especially in cases of rape or incest, then I was more than willing to sign the petition.

I honestly believe that it’s a slippery slope when you start removing exemptions. Alabama’s proving that one. Ohio and Missouri are showing those stripes, too.

My thoughts on abortion are pretty simple: make education and birth control widely accepted, inexpensive, and available, and you probably won’t need abortion, anyway (except in extreme medical cases where mom’s life’s at stake).

I hate the “all or nothing” approach that a lot of these lobbying groups and die-hard conservatives have been going for (and signed into law in some states). I mean, they don’t want abortion, but they’re not making birth control in other forms easier to access. Our schools are not allowed to educate kids except for “abstinence-only” programs, which don’t freaking work because teens have hormones and they’re like lawyers-in-training when it comes to looking for loopholes.

But kids are freaking idiots, too, made that way by a lack of education. They look up crappy advice on the internet or from older siblings that barely know any better on ways to get it on without going all in…not realizing if they screw up, they’re gonna end up with STDs or pregnant.

I hate how our legislature’s operating under the belief that if you educate kids about sex, they’re gonna wanna have it more. Bullshit–they’re gonna have it anyway. I think teenagers need to know how to talk about it, learn respect for each other, be able to ask advice without judgment, and how to stay safe if they decide to do it.

Because leaving it up to the schools or youth-group scare tactics at church (ugh, I remember those days) is really screwing us all.

Seriously, I thought “oral sex” was “French kissing” until I was 19 years old.

Not kidding.

A product of abstinence only education right here…I had to check out books to find out more when I figured out why mom was trying not to laugh at my confusion. And I was too embarrassed after that to ask her anything. Dad was totally out of the question.

The abortion argument is frightening and absurd all at the same time. I think it’s absurd because the way some men in my family and circle have talked, they think that women should just deal with what’s been given to them, as if maybe they should’ve waited til marriage. I get pissed off because there are plenty of reasons why a woman might have to have one that are totally legit: too many kids already and no money, medical problems, etc.

Besides, as I had to remind this guy, I haven’t heard of a single woman who decided abortion was their first choice when confronted with a sexual situation or possible pregnancy. It’s a freaking last resort! When it was a “first resort” it’s from back in the dark ages when birth control was illegal to talk about or even have information on!

And, frankly, if i was raped, I’d want the option of abortion on the table. I don’t know if I’d go through with it, because honestly, I don’t think anybody really knows what they’d do in that situation. I sure as hell don’t. But I do know I’d want the option available.

Sigh…

I actually got the last word on the argument, that he said you need to vote those idiots out of office and get somebody who would take care of things.

I said I planned to.

He said I’d better consider voting for DT if I didn’t want things to get more screwed up in the future.

I just said “dunno about that. It’s not the Democratic party that’re trying to take my rights away, it’s the Conservatives trying to keep me in the dark ages.”

We hung up after that.

I can’t believe how many old arguments are still flying around out there. I need to go do some research on why some of the old crap I used to hear from FUX news (back when I was indoctrinated into listening to only it) is still being kicked around a decade and change later.

Oh, wait…who’s in the white house again?

Crap.