This post was written in November (which explains the first line), but for some reason I never hit the publish button.
Well, elections were two days ago, but as Abby's mother promised, "It'll be over soon. The election will be over soon." Cancel on promise. Me and Abby are still hearing about Bronco Bama and Mitt Romney. (Go here if you don't know what I'm referencing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjrthOPLAKM )
I'm hearing a lot about the "black vote," the "latino vote," and the "women's vote." The women's vote is particularly interesting because a lot of women stated that they voted for the president because they support women's rights, chiefly a woman's right to not have a baby. I mean, after all, men have that right, so why shouldn't we?
Please forgive my utter sarcasm and tone. You can probably guess which side of the pro-life/pro-choice chasm I am on. But this Bible-thumping gal just may surprise you. I am actually very much in favor of a woman's right to her own life.
The difference is that I also support the right of the woman that is in the womb.
....and I probably just lost 70% of you.
The majority of America seems to believe that a fetus is not a human and therefore does not have any rights. But, what I want to know is, when does that fetus become a human? Now, that question just may be too deep for this humble ole blog. So in order to tie this into a women's rights issue, the better question would be when does the fetus become a girl?
Because when I ask myself that question, the answer isn't so mirky. The fetus never becomes a girl, she is a girl from the second that egg is fertilized. And maybe if I didn't believe that, then I would be left to say that the fetus becomes a girl at around 9 weeks. Why? Well, here's your daily biology lesson. No worries; tuition's on me.
About 6 weeks after fertilization, the fetus (boy or girl) begins to develop an external genitalia. These are essentially developing the same until about 9 weeks. After this, the genitalia start to form differently depending on the sex, but generally the differences cannot be accurately seen until about 16-18 weeks on a sonogram. And this is typically when parents can discover the gender of their baby. At about 20 weeks, the external genitalia are fully formed.
Regardless of when you think a fetus becomes a girl, one has to agree that it is at the latest 16-18 weeks after conception (which is really 18-20 weeks pregnant). Here's the problem: abortion is legal in the state of Florida up to 22 weeks pregnant.
So, when I hear women talking about women's rights, I can't also help but think about the girls (and the boys) still growing in the womb and their rights.
I'm thankful that there even is a "women's vote" to talk about and how we women, at least according to the media hype, probably changed the outcome of the elections. I mean, less than 100 years ago (92 to be exact) we weren't even allowed to vote.
But the sad truth at hand is there are thousands of women-to-be, who will never get the chance to vote.
