Linkity Links

Oh, and here are some re-organized links to other bloggers covering the summit (pretty much shamelessly copied from AWB). And thanks to all the other bloggers out there linking to me! It's fun to watch the counter spike.

Angry Black Bitch has several posts up - about choice and race, travel upheavals (there and back! she's due some seriously good travel karma!), birthing debates, and pre-summit-pallet-prep
Jessica over at Feministing has general thoughts
Pandagon has the summit kickoff, first day, and blogging for choice
Brownfemipower has the first day, Loretta Ross, second session of the day, young women's empowerment project, midwives of color, and immigrant women's reproductive health
a bird and a bottle has updates, bits and pieces from day 1, and Dorothy Roberts
BitchPhD has first day impressions and this lovely piece about pregnancy.

In much the same way, that single pregnancy brought home to me why abortion rights--and all the associated rights of access, education, and options when it comes to birth control and reproductive health--matter so very much. Pregnancy, as I have argued before and will undoubtedly argue again, is NOT a choice. It is a fact of life, if you are a woman.

Now, thanks be to Margaret Sanger, we can choose to avoid pregnancy. I love the pill, and Norplant, and IUDs, and VCF. But none of those are guarantees. Not having sex with men isn't even a guarantee, since, dios mio, you can't guarantee that a man won't, someday, decide to have sex with you whether you will or no. And, as many women know to their sorrow, you also can't get pregnant if your body won't, for whatever reason, cooperate.