Voice of Choice
So yesterday was pretty epic. My boss sent me out into the city to track down some "envelope sealer," I still don't know what the fuck it is, but I had to go to a bunch of art stores, and thusly headed down to the Art Institute, only to find that for three blocks on either side of Michigan Avenue were pro-life protesters. It was the Pro-Life Action League. They were each five feet apart holding signs that were 5 feet tall of dead fetuses, with captions like "THIS IS THE FIRST TRIMESTER ABORTION" and shit like that.

So of course I get pissed off at crap like this, but what really pissed me off was the fact that these were medically incorrect or at the very least misleading pictures. First trimester fetuses have tails, no eyelids, and look more like aliens than real babies. Further, an abortion looks like a blob, you don't fucking suck out entire fetuses, blech. I was so pissed off, I was shaking. I called Mike and told him what was going on and he was pissed too. I wanted to do something, to yell at these people (most of them were old dudes), to kick their signs in, anything. Instead, I went up to one of them, asked them how long they would be there. They told me they were moving to Union Station and then handed me a pamphlet. Then I had to go back to work.

But I was still pissed. I was still shaking. So, throughout my shift I took off into the library to track down books. First I photocopied a page out of MaGill's medical encyclopedia of real gestation periods, wrote some facts about pregnancy (fact: fetal brain activity is undetectable until the second trimester), cut out some shit from the pamphlet ("Pro-Life LIE Action League," "Face The Truth"). Then on the back I put some exerpts from a book on illegal abortion in the United States, about how the antiabortion movement pops up at times when women seek independence, another account of a woman dying in Chicago from an illegal abortion, and how it was still commonplace even though it was illegal, etc.

Went to Kinko's and made 100 copies of the fliers. Went down to Union Station at 5PM and met Mike, found two other pro-choice protesters, and handed them out. We got rid of all of them within a half an hour. And we made a lot of noise -- the pro-lifers were pissed as fuck. It was fucking awesome. Plus, my fliers promoted KNOWLEDGE. It felt pretty fucking awesome. The women were chanting, "ABORT THE PRO-LIE ACTION LEAGUE," and "Pro-choice girls have more fun! ...And a better sense of humor!"

The women I protested with asked for my email and told me they would keep me posted on future counter-protests. It was cool. I made room for the voice of truth about illegal abortion and people listened. Because that shit was fucking whack. Fuck that noise. Fuck anyone who wants to take away my sexual independence.