Dear Conservative Christians,

My daughter Jarin decided to do a stop-motion animation project for her experimental film class.  You should see it. It’s called the Georgia Princess and it’s timely AF!

The fact that 40+ years after Roe V Wade she has to even think about this disturbs me.

She’s done everything right. She uses birth control that you don’t have to remember to take, only drinks when around people she trusts, pays her taxes, works while going to school full-time and studies hard. As she approaches 21 and prepares to graduate later this year, she’s coming into her womanhood.  She’s daring to dream big dreams. Live an authentic life. Participate in really, good, self-care. And bust her ass to get where she wants to go career-wise.

More importantly she’s finally starting to understand that life isn’t about perfection or avoiding stress and problems. It’s about becoming resilient enough to bounce back from the adversity that is bound to show up.  In other words she’s being less judgmental and more compassionate with herself, something all young women must learn how to do as they set out to conquer their dreams.

She has also been a kid that, SINCE MIDDLE SCHOOL, has told me she does not want children. She wants to be a DINK (Double Income No Kids).

When she hears a baby wailing in Target she whispers in my ear, “Dink, dink, dink, dink, dink”.

On our way to the airport a few years ago she said from the back seat, “Just think how much nicer your hotel room would be and the comfort you could’ve enjoyed sitting in first class if you guys didn’t have us,” while pointing to her sister.

“I really like this guy, but he’s pretty sure he wants a family so I think I need to end it before it gets more serious,” is a sentence she’s uttered on occasion.

My response has always been, “Please be upfront with whomever you date. Make sure you explore what it might mean to you to be a step-mom in case you fall in love with a person who’s divorced. Please know that you don’t have to give birth to be a phenomenal matriarch to someone at work, through community service, or inside your extended group of family and friends. But please don’t have kids unless you really want them. It not only wouldn’t be fair to you, it would be amazingly unfair to your partner and children.” 

I’ve always been pro-choice which has never felt anti-life to me. My pro-choice stance is about being pro-quality of life for not only the mother but also the potential child. I’m also a science nerd that understands the first law of thermodynamics, also known as Law of Conservation of Energy. This law states that energy can neither be created nor destroyed; energy can only be transferred or changed from one form to another.” ~ Live Science

Because I simply feel better following the laws of science than the laws of a 2000 year-old-man-made-ideology I believe in the following. I figure after an abortion the energy, life-force, prana, bio-electrical voltage, soul, whatever you want to call it – doesn’t get destroyed.  It simply goes back into the ether, the collective, or maybe if it’s a soul, the queue. Perhaps it just gets back in line to be popped into another zygote that will be implanted inside the womb of a happy, healthy, ready-to-take-on-the-challenge-of-motherhood, legal, adult female who willingly made the choice to get pregnant while conscious and by someone not threatening to ruin her career or related to.

Call my crazy, but if I’m a soul looking for a bodily, home, I’m picking the jackpot womb. Shouldn’t all souls have that opportunity?

So enjoy her short film.

Honestly, I can’t wait to see where she ends up.  A stop motion animation career at a powerhouse like Laika in Portland?  A phenomenal pre-production gig in LA?  Maybe she’ll do line production here in the DC / Baltimore area? I think she’s going to have a great career no matter where she lands. But unlike her male contemporaries, she may soon live in a country where, by no fault of her own, a pregnancy could completely derail her dreams and everything she’s worked towards.

I’m so sick and tired of all you white, Christian men trying to control our lives and I’ll be super pissed if you derail my kid’s future. But luckily for Jarin I hear that Canada has a thriving television and film production industry.

Careful what you wish for assholes!

Fondly,

A pro-choice, pro-quality-of-life, progessive who’s tired of pro-birth Conservatives disguising themselves as pro-life Christians. 

A True Pro-Life Conservative Christian (PLCC) would 

• Support gay marriage as it clearly answers their pro-life adoption prayers  
• Fight for birth control and fact-based sex education as those decrease unintentional pregnancies
• Be okay when medical, therapeutic abortions decided upon between a woman and her doctor occur since they love small government
• Demand only science based evidence because God created scientists and data analytics for a reason
• Welcome universal healthcare, food stamps, social services, head start education and top notch foster care because the real important work happens AFTER a baby is delivered not before
• Demand rape prevention and education as well as proper punishments for offenders to keep everyone safer 
• Be completely ok with women “Playing God” since EVERYONE plays God. 
  • From taking penicillin, to having a heart-lung transplant, to cosmetic procedures and in-vitro fertilization, or wearing a fucking seat-belt. We create and extend life constantly. If you’re truly against Playing God you probably should cancel your upcoming Botox and Artificial Insemination appointments 
• Fiercely protect abused girls, tweens and teens from their creepy fathers, uncles, cousins & family friends, instead of taking away their educational opportunities and economic viability
• Be horrified when they hear about kids in cages and children being sent back to unimaginable violence and despair where they too could get pregnant against their will.
• Never allow a 12-year-old to legally adopt a child, therefore they wouldn’t demand that she give birth either, because that would nuts!

And if you, dear reader are a card caring PLCC member and the above stipulations don’t jive with you, no problem. We live in America. I truly support your right to stand up for whatever you believe. Seriously. I don’t get it, but I support you.  On one condition…

Don’t bullshit me and call yourself Pro-Life. Tell the truth! Be ok with being a Pro-Birther. Own it. Flaunt it. Celebrate it. But stop fucking lying about it.  

(I highly recommend viewing this full screen with the music on. Song: Alone in Kyoto by Air. Created by Jarin Pruce.)