Women Are A Private People

When niece Fancy-Free posted her 5 a.m. rant about access to contraceptives, it confirmed what I have been thinking. This winter is a cruelly mean season. Women are under attack for what we do and why we do it. There aren't a lot of women speaking out, in part because we are a private people. Our pain; our periods; our miscarriages; our pregnancies; our infertilites and our sex lives aren't topics we freely lay out to be poked, prodded, judged and cost-accessed by others. But in this lean time of decency, we're forced to do just that. Lost in the sound and fury is our right to live our lives as we see fit, privately. Fancy-Free touched hard on contraceptives as pain relief. I want to touch just as hard on contraceptives as birth control. The women and families who suffer without adequate free access to contraceptives are those that can't afford contraceptives. For hospitals and individuals to drape themselves in "conscience" to deny what's fair to others is a travesty. It takes a village to raise a child, it takes a village to support healthy families. We're all part of the same village. The best we can do as a village is make sure every child is planned, wanted and provided for.  And on our way to being our best, give women back their privacy.