Introduction

I started volunteering as an escort at the Morgentaler Clinic about six weeks ago. Every Tuesday morning I get up, shower, dress and hop in the car to get to the clinic for 7:30, when the first patients start arriving. Before I get into this, let me just say that of all the volunteer experiences I have had (and I've had my fair share), this is by far the most fulfilling and rewarding. Women's rights is something that I feel very passionately about, and when I am escorting women into the clinic and protecting them from the hateful LIES of the anti-choice protesters, I really feel like I'm accomplishing something for the movement.

So there. I love this work, and if I could get paid to do it I would be the happiest worker in the world.

Also, just to reassure anyone who works/volunteers at the clinic who might be reading this, I will never mention anyone's name unless I have the permission of that person to do so. The last thing I want to do is endanger anyone or compromise their right to privacy. When I refer to my fellow volunteers it will be with an initial, and the patients will always be "Patient". I don't know the protesters' names, but I'm sure humourous nicknames will be applied where necessary.

I want to do this blog because I think it's important to spotlight the policies we have in New Brunswick that are unquestionably AGAINST the Supreme Court ruling on reproductive rights. I also think that it's important to use humour, reflection and open-mindedness in addressing any issue. I want this stupid debate to end, and I want pro-choice and anti-choice activists to concentrate on working *together* to make a world in which women don't need to get abortions. I know that a lot of anti-choicers are intelligent and rational people - it's the nutbars who protest in front of clinics who are the problem. They will never change their minds and what they do is immoral, cruel and misogynistic. I want to show them up for the ridiculous excuses for human beings that they are.

Most of all, I want to encourage discussion and debate. I want to get people thinking about why we have the laws that we do, and about who these women are and why they feel this is their only option. What sort of society have we created that we can feel justified in backing women into a corner, and then condemning them for taking the only way out?

Feel free to comment but be warned - I will not waste my time responding to people who are rude, intolerant or illiterate.