Soft Power

If you haven’t yet watched the beautiful, cheesy, romantic, tropey, mental pleasure cruise that is Amazon Prime’s weekend film release, Red, White, and Royal Blue, based on the novel by Casey McQuiston, go do that now. Then come back. You’re welcome.

First of all, as a connoisseur of the romantic comedy and a former screenwriter, I’m so happy they made this. Every iteration of romance deserves representation on screens of all sizes. But it’s truly a story for everyone in the time-honoured tradition of all enduring romances, without feeling like a remake or a rehash of anything else. It’s a gay couple that gets to be gay without pedestal equality or a ‘this is for them’ mentality. Sexual health and HIV prevention are discussed as casually as birth control pills and Plan B. It happens to be gay, and everyone will like it.

There are a couple of other equally important things that it does really well. Yes- love stories, international relations, and global civil rights are equally important. I said what I said.

As the former head of PR and politics for a British consulate in the US, it was 0% surprising that I watched this film the minute it was released, and while I expected a good ‘special relationship’ joke and some fun with cultural stereotypes on both sides of the pond I was NOT ready for the public diplomacy masterclass that was served up, for those in a position to hear it. If, say, you’re aware that the UK and the US haven’t had a functional free trade agreement since Brexit, despite going a highly publicised five rounds of negotiations in 2020, then the discussion of a deal between first female President, Uma Therman, and the female PM of the UK is a rather epic burn. In the fictional world, the biggest hurdle to establishing global digital financial standards and critical mineral trading is a snafu with a big cake. Out here in reality it’s a snafu with big egos while both sides publicise gutless MOUs and the largely decorative Atlantic Declaration, until some real rope is fit to be tied between the home of the scone and the land of the free gift with purchase. Turns out one is a lot easier to ice over with a tandem story hour than the other (is it too soon to use ‘story hour’ innocuously again?). It’s simply factual at this point in time to say that Brexit has been bad for British trade. And I, for one, would like to see Jaffa Cakes on American shelves. BUT, Henry and Alex can help.

The UK and the US have some sparkling public diplomacy gems to work with. And in recent memory they’ve been languishing in a box. The Royals are an obvious draw. For every wedding and Jubilee the American public rediscovers the fascinator and remembers they don’t like scones that much (because they’re making them wrong). RWRB, as the kids are calling it, serves up all the royal sparkle from the first frame and Nicholas Galatzine’s Prince Henry gives us all the tortured gilded cage vibes we held close with Prince Harry with the added angst of a gilded closet; with a King leaning on the door. In an interview, the lead actors said that it felt important to see these men not only struggle, but to see them in positions of power and massive influence setting a standard for equality and acceptance (I’m paraphrasing). That’s a rather well shot arrow into the gaping hole of protections for queer people in both countries.

A little over a year ago, the UK’s much lauded ‘Safe To Be Me’ conference – its first-ever international LGBT+ conference as the nation attempted to show leadership in supporting queer safety in the workplace globally – was very abruptly cancelled very last minute. Boris Johnson refused to include trans people in the government’s ban on conversion therapy. Over 100 organisations and sponsors pulled out and the event was cancelled. In the US, we’ve had the pulse shooting and just, like, FLORIDA. And more recently the Supreme Court let the queer community know that it’s a-okay to discriminate against them.

Alex’s speech in the White House press room, after the couple is forcibly and publicly outed, in RWRB is beautiful and poignant but also reminds us of all the things both governments are not saying to us. That no matter who you love, or make out in a polo shed with, you are a person deserving of respect and privacy and safety and healthcare and kindness. For what it’s worth, there are very dedicated people on both sides of the Atlantic working hard to make space for diverse voices and enact real change and I’m very proud of my work in this area that I did while working for the British government. It simply isn’t enough.

More immediately on this path to constitutional change (with or without the monarchy), is the very simple lesson that forging bilateral relationships and engagement can be fun. It can be silly, and pretty, and easy, and based on nothing more than a cowboy hat or a rather fit statue at the V&A, and still have immense value and potential. On the inside, this is reluctantly referred to as ‘soft power’ but it’s the kind of low hanging fruit you can bake a whole pie out of. And Red, White, and Royal Blue certainly serves it hot.

Anti-Choice Advocates are part of the Jewish Agenda

In a world where US legislators defy the American mandate to separate church and state by claiming moral high ground (Christian morals, of course) they have created a social circumstance that could stand to facilitate the greatest wave of religious conversion since Henry VIII saw a cute brunette with a penchant for monogrammed jewelry.

If abortion is criminal only according to one faith, in a country based on religious freedom, then any law in accordance will have to make allowances for the expression of any religion – given it does not harm others or threaten the public good. Termination of a pregnancy for any reason does neither of these.

Jews’ views on abortion largely depend on how observant they are and their denominational affiliation (Orthodox, Reform, Conservative, Reconstructionist, etc.). But there is widespread agreement among scholars and rabbinical authorities that a complete prohibition on abortion is inconsistent with Jewish law and tradition. Under Jewish law, an abortion to save the life of the mother is permitted.²

It’s patently clear that women’s rights are not a convincing platform for the Republican party, but religious freedom claims have seen support in Conservative courts, up to and including the Supreme Court, with success as recent as the ability to waive covid vaccination requirements. If your personal beliefs protect one’s right to be an idiot and a threat to public health then why not basic human autonomy?

Thus, one can only assume that the anti-choice agenda, who are well aware that the majority of the American voting public would prefer medically determined abortion access¹ in a country rumoured to be “free,” want those dissenters to be Jewish. Then they qualify for the much lauded religious exemption. Then they say fun things like “Oy, vey” and “Kvetch”. Maybe they just really like Mrs. Maisel. There are worse things than a tide of change that results in more brisket than fish frys on Fridays. Is that it, is the real fear a run on haddock?

The Talmud, a compendium of rabbinical commentaries and laws written during the 1st millennium C.E., characterizes a fetus as “mere water”. If a woman is at risk of death while giving birth, the fetus can and should be destroyed to save her because her life outweighs its potential life. It is considered a mitzvah, a commandment, to save the life of a mother when she is at risk of life-threatening complications such as an ectopic pregnancy or an incomplete spontaneous miscarriage.²

The extreme right actually want more mitzvahs. More bagels with lox. More tikkun olam⁴. It’s a hell of a Nazi reverse psychology move. Pretend to advance the patriarchy and fascist white supremacy while perpetuating the multiplication of the global Jewish population by 12x³. I see what you did there.

Shalom.

Pew Research Center
Lisa Fishbayn Joffe, Brandeis University
There are currently 16 million Jews in the world;340 million Americans, 55% of whom want unrestricted abortion; could mean 197 million new Jews.
Humanity must come together to fix what is wrong with the world. (See what I did there.)

Whipped Cream

I have this theory. The salient part of the theory is that life is an ice cream sundae.

That’s also the most important part of the theory. Regardless of which toppings are present, or what flavor is in the bowl, your life is a pile of ice cream with extra goodies.

The other key part of the theory is that men (in my case) are the whipped cream in this sundae. I quite like whipped cream. But to make my ice cream sundae better than it would be otherwise it had better be some top notch, hand whipped, heavy duty cream with a touch of cinnamon and Madagascan vanilla bean. Because I’m going to eat that amazing sundae every single day, with or without whipped cream. If you’re not adding something to the bowl I’ve got cherries and sprinkles and caramel and maybe the odd gummy bear or, like, a cookie.

In the UK whipped cream in a can is called ‘squirty cream’ which is fantastic and we will refer to it as such from this point forward. Squirty cream has its place. Can be lots of fun and gets the job done in a pinch. Mostly doesn’t make your sundae worse unless you leave it too long and it kind of melts into a film… which is the argument for squirty cream men. They have their place. But mandatory sundae topping they are not. Priority additions must contribute to a dessert more than the sum of it’s ingredients.

You don’t leave a perfectly lovely sundae to turn into soup for lack of whipped cream. You grab a spoon and lick the bowl. And when that really great, perfect swirl of cream-of-the-crop whipped topping comes along, your sundae is that much sweeter.

I’m not turning down a bowl of strawberry ice cream with no toppings at all either. Eat up.

Smells Like Revolution

It’s hot to boycott.

We’ve made it a bit hard on ourselves now as the conglomeration of commercial business has knocked all of our other, independent, local retailers out of the running. Could this emotional political division bring it back? Do we have to grow and raise all of our own food and spin wool to avoid supporting white supremacy, suppression of womens’ rights, and gun violence at the dinner table? Maybe.

In the week since it was announced that SoulCycle and Equinox’s membership dues were spinning straight up the corporate ladder to a Trump supporter and fundraiser I have had a number of fraught conversations with people about how much they are willing to let their values impact their lifestyle. That sounds judgmental, but its perfectly reasonable really. Adulting is challenging at the best of times and you’ve just about eked out a routine that doesn’t make you glare at passing strangers only to find out a habit you’re quite fond of supports something you strongly oppose. For many people their gym is a community they connect with; visiting actually releases chemicals that make your brain happy and creates positive neural pathways. Walking away from that (or lunging, or whatever) is no small feat. It would hurt. And it’s not that dissimilar for the slew of fast food companies that fall into the same category. What even is a night out without a 3am Crunchwrap Supreme?? Are they Fascism Fries now?

Then I got to thinking about the American Revolution. We don’t look back nearly enough (unless you’re a politician looking for a convenient quote) which is a shame, because we are remarkably unoriginal and learning from our forefathers mistakes (instead of taking their word as gospel) is theoretically simple and easy. I digress. Revolution. Two hundred and fifty years ago brand-new, self-devised Americans decided they didn’t like what their tax dollars were supporting. More specifically they didn’t like that they had no say in what those tax dollars were supporting, namely wars and policies that benefited a parent company, if you will, and worked in their disinterest.

We need to accept that radical change might hurt. The colonists gave up tea (and coffee, and glass, etc.) and if you’ve ever had a caffeine headache you know that hurt. No one ever said revolution was easy – very many people have definitely said the opposite – and we’re looking at a Revolution from systemic racism, a blurring of the line between church and state, and conglomerated capitalism. The interesting thing about the latter is that we have a scenario where you literally can vote with your dollar. In fact, given gerrymandering and insecure elections, it may very well be the most effective vote you can cast.

The opposition has said that boycotting hurts the employees, that taking your custom to back up your values limits choice, even though it quite literally is a choice. You are putting yourself in opposition to employees that choose to work for a company that has put their money behind their values. There would be no point to the exercise if it didn’t threaten the company’s ability to function, including providing employment. According to the breakdown of corporate political support from Buycott, much of this support is coming from senior staff, often in greater amounts than the company itself. You cannot pick and choose the parts you want to break from. You are free to choose to be part of something you don’t agree with. Or not. This is America, where we’re free to make that choice. But no one said it wouldn’t hurt if you decide to put your money where your mouth eats. Most fast food, gyms, and many grocery stores are off the table if you don’t want your dollars to add to Trump’s $43,000,000+ campaign fund.

“People are realizing that they have a vote everyday with their purchasing power, and they can take a stand every single day with how they spend their money,” says Nathan Lerner, executive director at the Democratic Coalition Against Trump.

So, what are you supposed to do? Your best. Chances are you are going to accidentally contribute to all kinds of political funds that you don’t agree with in very small ways all the time. Decide which ones matter the most to you, do your research, and find some alternatives that you can live with. Next November’s election does not hinge solely on your $5.99 Home Depot light bulbs. Much like your carbon footprint though, maybe consider offsetting the impact by donating to charities that support the causes you want to lift up.

The rest of us will use this as a two birds, one stone excuse to continue avoiding exercising in organized groups.

Woulda, Shoulda, Coulda

In response to recent events pertaining to leaked confidential messages between the British Ambassador to the United States and Downing Street, in reference to the current American President, these are the crisis communications strategies I would have suggested. Had I been asked. Which I wasn’t.

Do not call the experienced and accomplished Ambassador “a very stupid man.” You are not twelve. If we had a modicum of integrity, the political theater would not be a sandbox. We do not throw things. We use our words.
Speaking of words. We acknowledge the role of foreign ambassadors to represent their view of the country they reside in as honestly as possible, and the many ways that image can be muddled. If we find out the perception of ourselves is less than stellar than we are grateful for the chance to communicate more thoroughly, listen to the concerns of that nation, and hopefully reach a mutual better understanding of that international relationship resulting in a more exemplary review. It is a privilege to know the honest feelings of said nation and be able to address them.
We invite ambassadors of other nations to share with us if they or their staff have ever felt similarly, and work to establish a new foreign relations management system that better addresses efficiency and sensitivity to global needs, as is our responsibility as a world leader and economic power.

Stop

To abort is to stop. And we need to stop working ourselves up into an unproductive lather over the word abortion. There are a lot of feelings, thoughts, and opinions on the issue, but the goal needs to be legal access to safe abortion in the United States at the end of the day. There is every rational, logical, evidence-based reason why.

I’ve been wary of taking a stance on the internet about something so controversial, but my feelings are absolutely certain, and thus, so must my resolve be.

It’s easy to dismiss the debate as complicated, or abandon the dialogue altogether when it gets too heated or emotional. But all that does is leave decisions up to those already in power. Those whose voices are already loudest and keep on being loud regardless of logic, truth, benefit, or common sense. I am not claiming to be a neutral human being (no one can be). I am a woman. I feel I have a right to autonomy over my own person physically, financially, emotionally, politically, and technically. I love babies. And, I believe pizza is better with pineapple on it. But in this instance I believe it is most constructive, efficient, true, and fair to come at this issue with facts.

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I’m going to start with my foundation for this argument as it makes sense to me. You’re allowed to agree with all of it, some of it, or none of it, but you’ll know where I’m at.

1. I support pro-choice legislation to the full extent of what that means. Legally, this is not about abortion at all. It’s about rights. The right to have a medical procedure. This one happens to only be applicable to those with a uterus, which makes it impossible to disentangle from women’s rights as there is a significant overlap in the two groups (allowing for transgender persons with a uterus). As women have been traditionally disenfranchised legally, globally and for most of human history, it is not a wild leap to surmise that restricting access to this medical procedure, legally, is part of a mislead effort to intensify that disenfranchisement.

2. Abortion is not a rampant social crisis that needs to be legislated. No one wants to have an abortion. It is its own deterrent by virtue of being highly unpleasant. No one wants to kill babies either. No one is running around killing babies or encouraging others to do so because they hate babies so much (excepting sociopaths, and those with other mental illness whom do not represent American women as a whole).

3. It doesn’t really matter when life begins. I do not question the miracle that is life, procreation, and nature’s ability to regenerate. People are life, plants are life, bugs are life, animals are life. In my opinion, as it pertains to this argument, aborting a fetus has taken on an illogical place in the determination of life’s value, when killing a goldfish or your houseplant, or damning children to disease and violence are all acceptable treatment of life.

4. Men should have an opinion on this political issue. Men should speak up and absolutely support American citizens’ rights to freedom. And I do not think that anyone else with a uterus should have an enforceable legal opinion about my uterus just because we both have one. A woman signed an anti-abortion law in Alabama, women voted for the representatives proposing unconstitutional anti-abortion legislation, women harass patients and doctors at abortion clinics. Men are instrumental in abortion, since no one would need one without them, and there’s every reason for them to want to set a precedent for legal autonomy over ones person since they’re people. This is not about men making laws about women’s bodies. It’s about the government making laws about any American’s body autonomy. Which is not constitutional or acceptable. And the reason we get to enjoy TLC programming about people filing their teeth into points and implanting horns into their head. You can do whatever you want to your body and it’s no ones business, gender irrespective.

5. Just because I don’t want my congressperson in my gynecological exam room doesn’t mean I don’t want my gynecologist in there. I do. She knows a lot more about my reproductive health than me. That’s why it’s a condition of my employment to offset the exorbitant costs of maintaining a person vessel. Doctors should absolutely be involved in making what is unquestionably a difficult and important medical decision, giving the factual pros and cons of ALL options, and helping to navigate whichever option YOU CHOOSE as safely as possible. With absolutely no risk of policemen, religious representatives, or clowns, to weigh in. I heartily believe in a separation of Church and State is crucial to a free democracy in all ways.

6. Rape victims should always have access to abortion should they become pregnant. However, that condition is an unacceptable limitation to access. Any woman that finds themselves in possession of an unplanned pregnancy that they do not want, for any reason, all of which are none of my or your business, should be able to do so legally and safely under the care of a medical professional and offered counseling services. The rape and incest caveat is not enough. Especially, not enough ‘for now’. It reinforces that there has to be a justification or ‘good reason’ that the law should permit women to make their own medical decisions and that they’re incapable of making that assessment.

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Now we can get into the juicy data. I have done my best to reference and link to the most current, fact-checked, neutrally sourced statistics. I’m happy to discuss if you take issue with any of them, but you better have done the same.

Approximately 926,200 abortions were performed in 2014, down 12% from 1.06 million in 2011. ²

Please remember there are approximately 166 million women in America.

In 2015, in America, the abortion rate was 1.2%.*

More than 91% of those were performed at, or before, 13 weeks gestation.*

1.3% were performed at, or after, 21 weeks gestation.*

24.6% of all abortions were non-surgical (using the morning after pill, or similar) at or before 8 weeks gestation. This percentage marked a 114% increase from 2006.*

*All above (most recent available) statistics obtained from CDC Abortion Surveillance Report

What I hope to convey from the above is that late-term abortions are the exception in the extreme. It is not hyperbole. No one is attempting to diminish the utter tragedy of that scenario. It is statistically rare. In most cases (I refuse to use absolutes because there are always exceptions that I do acknowledge, even if they represent a negligible percentage), these are performed only in the instance that the mother is in danger of death and proceeding otherwise would likely kill both mother and baby. This is because doctors don’t go on being doctors if they kill people and a late-term abortion poses a health risk including hemorrhage. Beyond that, the proposition is the least desirable scenario for all involved. No doctor wants to perform that procedure. No woman wants to undergo it. It is physically, emotionally, and mentally reprehensible. But in the interest of not dying, it is a medical necessity sometimes.

That said:

A first-trimester abortion is one of the safest medical procedures and carries minimal risk: Major complications (those requiring hospital care, surgery or transfusion) occur at a rate of less than 0.5%.^12,13
There is no long-term risk of problems such as infertility, ectopic pregnancy, spontaneous abortion (miscarriage) or birth defect, and little or no risk of preterm or low-birth-weight deliveries.¹⁴
Leading experts have concluded that among women who have an unplanned pregnancy, the risk of mental health problems is no greater if they have a single first-trimester abortion than if they carry the pregnancy to term.¹⁵
The risk of death associated with abortion increases with the length of pregnancy, from 0.3 for every 100,000 abortions at or before eight weeks to 6.7 per 100,000 at 18 weeks or later.¹⁶

Doctors do not perform procedures that put their patients lives in unnecessary risks. It is incompatible with retaining their medical licenses. ‘Late-term’ abortion is something of a misnomer in the medical community as it almost always refers to procedures at 21-24 weeks gestation. No doctor will abort a full term baby without life-threatening reason regardless of legality.

There are many medical procedures that doctors perform at patient request without any request for justification or public protest.

The following is guidance from the American Society of Plastic Surgery regarding breast augmentation:

The decision to have plastic surgery is extremely personal and you will have to weigh the potential benefits in achieving your goals with the risks and potential complications of breast augmentation. Only you can make that decision for yourself.

The risk for complication is 1% (double that of first-trimester abortion) and is never medically necessary, as far as I can find.

Don’t get lost is the weeds here in terms of your feelings about fake tits. The point is that women (and anyone else) are considered to have the legal aptitude to decide if they want boobs legally, but not whether they want babies. We have the choice. Unquestioned.

It’s also worth thinking about the alternative scenario should abortion become illegal (again). Both historically and as evidenced by the reality in other countries where that is currently the case the resultant challenge will not be an influx of unwanted babies. It will be an increase in clandestine abortions, performed unsafely. Remember Dirty Dancing?

Statistics from WHO in reference to unsafe abortions globally:

Between 2010–2014, on average, 56 million induced (safe and unsafe) abortions occurred worldwide, each year.
3.5% of women aged between 15–44 years.
25% of all pregnancies ended in an induced abortion.
Around 25 million unsafe abortions were estimated to have taken place worldwide each year, almost all in developing countries.
Over half of all estimated unsafe abortions globally were in Asia.
Each year between 4.7% – 13.2% of maternal deaths can be attributed to unsafe abortion.
Almost every abortion death and disability could be prevented through sexuality education, use of effective contraception, provision of safe, legal induced abortion, and timely care for complications.

Adopting illegal abortion policies and laws will not save babies. They will kill women.

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As to the arguments that rescinding abortion services violates social justice, indirectly supports systemic poverty, homelessness, and lack of education, as well as being inherently racist – are totally, statistically true. And really shoots a hole in the whole ‘saving children’ appeal. BUT that does NOT mean it’s a poor issue, or a brown one.

Every cross-section of American women of child-bearing age is represented in every statistic. Because abortions don’t ‘happen to’ anyone and it’s not because they’re bad, stupid, or weak. The numbers don’t lie.

No racial or ethnic group made up the majority of abortion patients between 2008 and 2014: Thirty-nine percent were white, 28% were black, 25% were Hispanic, 6% were Asian or Pacific Islander, and 3% were of some other race or ethnicity.

24% were Catholic, 17% were mainline Protestant, 13% were evangelical Protestant and 8% identified with some other religion. 38% of patients had no religious affiliation.

46% of all abortion patients had never married and were not cohabiting.

As God hasn’t smote half a million (an approximation) American women, that I’ve noticed, it might be time to admit that religion, it’s practice, and it’s place in people’s lives is personal and not to be imposed on any other person without their consent or request.

In 2014, the majority of abortion patients (60%) were in their 20’s, and the second-largest age-group was in their 30’s (25%).

Patients aged 20–24 obtained 34% of all abortions, and patients aged 25–29 obtained 26%.⁶

This means that 85% of patients who had abortions are adults, generally considered to be legally capable of owning cars and houses, working, operating bank accounts, using power tools, and every other decision that pertains to living one’s life as a free American. They can vote, too, and they should.

The three most common reasons [to abort, of those recorded]—each cited by three-fourths of patients—were concern for or responsibility to other individuals; the inability to afford raising a child; and the belief that having a baby would interfere with work, school or the ability to care for dependents.

49% of abortion patients live below the federal poverty level.

75% of abortion patients in 2014 were poor or low-income. Twenty-six percent of patients had incomes of 100–199% of the federal poverty level (low-income), and 49% had incomes of less than 100% of the federal poverty level ($15,730 for a family of two).*⁶

In case you believe that patients can afford an abortion, but not a baby, costs range from $350 to $950, dependent on the clinic, insurance coverage, and sometimes stage of pregnancy. According to a 2017 report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the average cost of raising a child from birth through age 17 is $233,610. To clarify, poverty is not herein to be considered a necessary justification for procuring an abortion, but evidence that patients in a position of financial hardship stand to suffer disproportionately as a result of legal bans.

94.4% of abortion patients identified as heterosexual in 2014.

Exposure to sexual violence was substantially and significantly higher among patients who identified as lesbian (0.4%), bisexual (4.1%), or something else (1.1%) including physical violence by the man involved in the pregnancy.

People of color and LGBT people are disproportionately likely to be low income and depend on federally funded insurance like Medicaid, so it’s pretty hard to ignore the impact that these bans will have on these communities in particular.

59% of abortions are obtained by women with children.

51% of abortion patients in 2014 were using a contraceptive method in the month they became pregnant, most commonly condoms (24%) or a hormonal method (13%).⁸

Now that we know, statistically, that women who undergo abortions are not young, stupid, or asking for it, and that their main motivation is refusing to put their child in a situation where they’ll suffer from inequalities and inadequacies in their care (which more than half know from personal experience) we can take a look at the alternative. Statistically.

As of September 2017, there were an estimated 442,995 children in foster care in the United States.

Of the estimated 247,631 children who exited foster care during 2017:
– 49% were reunited with parent(s) or primary caretaker(s).
– 24% were adopted.
– 8% were emancipated.
– 10% went to live with a guardian.
– 7% went to live with another relative.
– 2% had other outcomes including being transferred to another agency, running away, and death.

Approximately 26,000 children a year age out of foster care and are statistically more likely to drop out of school, become unplanned parents, experience homelessness, or end up in jail.

About 57,000 American children are adopted in the United States each year.

Kansas, Oklahoma, and Colorado have considered legislation that would prevent LGBTQ persons and families from adopting OR fostering children in need.

The needs of children we already have in state care are already not being met by those looking to adopt, and those that are adopted are often children who went into care at age 6 or 7 and returned to other family members. The prospective mothers, by their own reckoning, and in line with their federal tax returns, are unable to care for a (or an additional) child. There are not enough volunteers to take that responsibility in their stead. Those that do want to adopt face the challenge of legal fees, the possibility of losing their child depending on varied state laws, and hurdles to approval for adoption including sexuality, marital state, and gender. The foster system is not equipped to ‘give them the best chance’ at life either.

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For the record:

The Bible

Never forbids abortion.

Says life begins with breath.

God says a fetus has less value than a woman in Exodus.

God mandates abortion for unfaithful wives in Numbers.

God frequently demands slaughter of infants and fetuses.

Jesus never mentions it.

Jesus Christ did oppose the death penalty.

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Lots of nice, Christian, educated, financially stable, insured women have had abortions.

In 2014, 91% of abortion patients had graduated from high school; more than one in five had a college degree.

53% paid for their abortion out of pocket; Medicaid was the second-most-common method of payment, used by 24% of patients.

24% were Catholic, 17% were mainline Protestant, 13% were evangelical Protestant and 8% identified with some other religion. 38% of patients had no religious affiliation.

Abortion patients were less likely to have NO health insurance coverage in 2014 than in 2008 (28% vs. 34%), likely because of the Affordable Care Act.

If only to provide another, less contentious, frame, consider the following. Let’s pretend that abortions are root canals. Unarguably, no one is asking their dentist for a voluntary root canal. They are deemed a necessary evil as the alternative is a painful rotting tooth and likely, infection. Sometimes you need one. Telling someone they consented to an abortion by consenting to sex is like telling them they consented to tolerating their painful, rotting tooth when they ate Skittles. Yes, one led to the other. Maybe they were brushing and flossing and swishing (using contraception) and got a cavity anyway. Maybe they didn’t. Maybe something hit their face really hard one day while playing youth sports and knocked their tooth out and this infection is not of their own doing at all but society has decided she deserves the consequences because she was asking for it by wearing cleats in the afternoon. Does this feel silly yet? I do understand that pregnancies are not infections. One can be eradicated with antibiotics and the other can reinforce poverty, lack of education, and homelessness.

Let’s take a quick minute to take a look at the Netherlands, where the outcomes are closer to what I believe all Americans would like to see.

The abortion rate in the Netherlands fluctuates between .5% and .7%, the lowest abortion rate in the world. Why? “Almost all secondary schools and about 50% of primary schools address sexuality and contraception…The mass media address adolescent sexuality and preventive behavior. Very large scale, non-moralistic, public education campaigns that are positive towards teenage sexual behavior appear to be successful.”

The maternal mortality rate in the US is 2.1%. It is 1.2% in Canada, 0.6% in the Netherlands, and 0.8% in Switzerland.^

America is considered to have a 7% unmet need for birth control.^

^UN World Abortion Policies 2013

Among developed nations the US has the highest rate of teen pregnancy (5.7% of 15-19 year olds) and Switzerland has the lowest (.8%).

Since 1973, when abortions in the U.S. were legalized, abortion has decreased. This is likely influenced by better healthcare, sexual education, availability and variety of contraception methods, but as those are all under threat as well it is worth mentioning we are already headed in the right direction.

Nearly half (45%) of all pregnancies among U.S. women in 2011 were unintended, and about four in 10 of these were terminated by abortion.¹
Nineteen percent of pregnancies (excluding miscarriages) in 2014 ended in abortion.²
Approximately 926,200 abortions were performed in 2014, down 12% from 1.06 million in 2011. In 2014, some 1.5% of women aged 15–44 had an abortion.²
At 2014 abortion rates, one in 20 women (5%) will have an abortion by age 20, about one in five (19%) by age 30 and about one in four (24%) by age 45.⁵

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The following serves to both rationalize that abortions are not a pervasive social problem, and indeed cannot be, as the infrastructure to support women’s health is lacking. The level of harassment is simply astonishing and disgusting.

Ninety percent of all U.S. counties lacked [an abortion providing] clinic in 2014, and 39% of women of reproductive age lived in those counties.²

Of the 1,671 U.S. abortion providing clinics in 2014, 46% of abortion clinics offered very early abortions (at four weeks’ gestation or earlier, before the first missed period), and 99% offered the procedure up to eight weeks from the last menstrual period. Seventy-two percent of clinics offered abortions up to 12 weeks, 25% up to 20 weeks and 10% up to 24 weeks.⁹

Eighty-four percent of clinics reported at least one form of anti-abortion harassment.

The Hyde Amendment, in effect since 1977, essentially bans federal dollars from being used for abortion coverage for women insured by Medicaid, the nation’s main public health insurance program for low-income Americans. Similar restrictions apply to other federal programs and operate to deny abortion care or coverage to women with disabilities, Native Americans, prison inmates, poor women in the District of Columbia, military personnel and federal employees.¹⁸

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The above can be considered in whole, or in part, but does outline the lack of truth in nearly all arguments for illegalizing abortion. I respect everyone’s right to exercise their religion, to live their life in the manner that beings them happiness, and everyone’s rights to their own body. And I expect the same in return.

“My right to swing my fist ends where your nose begins.” – Abraham Lincoln

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References without Hyperlinks

1. Finer LB and Zolna MR, Declines in unintended pregnancy in the United States, 200

8–2011, New England Journal of Medicine, 2016, 374(9):843–852, doi:10.1056/NEJMsa1506575.

2. Jones RK and Jerman J, Abortion incidence and service availability in the United States, 2014, Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, 2017, 49(1):17–27, doi:10.1363/psrh.12015.

3. Jones RK, Jerman J and Ingerick M, Which abortion patients have had a prior abortion? Findings from the 2014 U.S. Abortion Patient Survey, Journal of Women’s Health, 2017, doi:10.1089/jwh.2017.6410.

4. Jones RK and Jerman J, Abortion incidence and service availability in the United States, 2011, Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, 2014, 46(1):3–14, doi:10.1363/46e0414.

5. Jones RK and Jerman J, Population group abortion rates and lifetime incidence of abortion: United States, 2008–2014, American Journal of Public Health, 2017, doi:10.2105/AJPH.2017.304042.

6. Jerman J, Jones RK and Onda T, Characteristics of U.S. Abortion Patients in 2014 and Changes Since 2008, New York: Guttmacher Institute, 2016, https://www.guttmacher.org/report/characteristics-us-abortion-patients-2014.

7. Finer LB et al., Reasons U.S. women have abortions: quantitative and qualitative perspectives, Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, 2005, 37(3):110–118, doi:10.1363/3711005.

8. Jones RK, Reported contraceptive use in the month of becoming pregnant among U.S. abortion patients in 2000 and 2014, Contraception, 2018, doi:10.1016/j.contraception.2017.12.018.

9. Jones RK, Ingerick M and Jerman J, Differences in abortion service delivery in hostile, middle-ground and supportive states in 2014, Women’s Health Issues, 2018, doi:10.1016/j.whi.2017.12.003.

10. Jerman J and Jones RK, Secondary measures of access to abortion services in the United States, 2011 and 2012: gestational age limits, cost, and harassment, Women’s Health Issues, 2014, 24(4):e419–e424, doi:10.1016/j.whi.2014.05.002.

11. Jatlaoui TC et al., Abortion surveillance — United States, 2013, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 2016, Vol. 65, Number SS-12, https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/65/ss/ss6512a1.htm.

12. Upadhyay UD et al., Incidence of emergency department visits and complications after abortion, Obstetrics and Gynecology, 2015, 125(1):175–183, doi:10.1097/AOG.0000000000000603.

13. White K, Carroll E and Grossman D, Complications from first-trimester aspiration abortion: a systematic review of the literature, Contraception, 2015, 92(5):422–438, doi:10.1016/j.contraception.2015.07.013.

14. Boonstra HD et al., Abortion in Women’s Lives, New York: Guttmacher Institute, 2006, https://www.guttmacher.org/report/abortion-womens-lives.

15. Major B et al., Report of the APA Task Force on Mental Health and Abortion, Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2008, http://www.apa.org/pi/women/programs/abortion/mental-health.pdf.

16. Zane S et al., Abortion-related mortality in the United States, 1998–2010, Obstetrics & Gynecology, 2015, 126(2):258–265, doi:10.1097/AOG.0000000000000945.

Heat

The fire was lit in the corner of the room. The flames glowing with a bit more intensity every time the chimney breathed. She walked into the room; in from the cold. Took off the glove on her left hand, one finger at a time, and set it on the table in the middle of the room. The right one followed. She took off her coat slowly, walking over to the window to see the snow falling, to look up and watch the snowflakes instead of nestling her nose down into her scarf as she had only minutes ago, walking up the street.

This was where they met that time. Once. When he wasn’t so sure how he felt and she was sure that she loved him. Not that she ever told him that. She couldn’t. Madness to hand over your heart when you’re not sure there’s anywhere for it to go. But that didn’t mean she had it any longer. It just sat there dripping in her hand, beating, waiting, growing heavier and drying out in the hot air of this room.

That was a long time ago. Now the room was hot, but only with the heat of the fire. It was no longer full of the wet heat of kisses and smiles, interlocking fingers and glances held too long. The air doesn’t belong to them now. The lovers. Those sighs of his belong to someone else and fill a different room.

This room feels different. The table with the gloves on it. The fire flashing in time with the winter wind. She’s not big enough, what she feels isn’t big enough, to fill it.

She takes a deep breath and kicks her shoes off. The room doesn’t have to be full to be warm. It’s only one night.

Part Five Chapter One

It’s not an easy thing to wake up in the wrong country. It makes that hazy moment before your eyes actually open one of low-level dread that it’s all actually happening, but you still have to crawl out of bed earlier than you’d like, and do things for money so you can eat food, in the hope that you’ll wake up to a day where things are less crap.

This is exacerbated by my unwilling repatriation. Years of living in London abruptly, and somewhat dramatically (apologies to the pub for the lingering smell of burning hair), came to an end with the United Kingdom’s (and all of its citizens) unwillingness to put a ring on it. The world is getting smaller and more connected and the first, brick to the face, result of this shift has been fear, swiftly followed by resistance. It’s working out really great for everyone. To see so many nations of world with both hands fisted in the fabric of nationalism so firmly, many of which were on the wrong side of the last pass of this wave, is devastatingly disappointing.

I’ve started my whole life over a few times now. And I’ll do it again. But I don’t want to this time. I’ll do it anyway. Piece together house, job, food, friends, and climate appropriate wardrobe. Because it’s what you do. And valleys end in peaks, right? With about half of the above in place I can honestly say I’ve learned more than I predicted about what I can live with and what I can live without. I need friends; I don’t need close approximations thereof. And I need to work doing something that I believe in.

This whole life malarkey really is a work-in-progress sort of deal. Coping.

Titanium

How do you do it?

Oh, I don’t know.

I don’t really.

It’s all show.

How do you do it?

I keep busy.

With my friends.

With a bit of help.

How do you do it?

I pretend.

I make it up.

I hold it together.

How do you do it?

I really try.

So hard.

I tried everything.

How do you do it?

I’m a lion.

I’m a viking.

I’m titanium.

She looks better out of her clothes than in them. And she looks pretty good in her clothes.

These are the words that I have chosen to define my twenties. Not because I spent them naked. Or because the decade was defined by how I look, but because I seemed to do alright when really I was over the top incredible.

That said, the phrase has been expressed more than once (if with variations in vocabulary) and other girls boyfriends have nodded sagely, their eyes glazing over with brief remembrance, before coming to their senses. They’ve never actually had the sense to date me for more than a couple of months, but that had nothing to do with me. Probably. Hopefully.

Anyway, there’s more to life than love, and there’s been plenty to love. Three careers in, I started a company in a foreign country with no money and while it’s mostly felt like a Prometheus and the rock sort of experience looking back I’ve done quite a lot that I’m really rather proud of. Happy clients, rent paid, and a few astonishingly supportive friends. My threshold for thriving possibly needs to be reassessed.

While still secretly baffled at what winning at life would actually look like, I’ve decided to give the woman I’ve been a break for not exceeding every expectation on the grounds of having chased every dream, and more than a few whims. Not to say that they were all met with rampant success, but, especially in that case, I did it anyway and I can forgive myself a host of other mistakes on that alone.

I’ve tokened myself the queen of trying, and the failure analytics are irrelevant when there is some success to focus on and an almost entirely empty slate of regrets.

As with every new year, I will look to take the good into the next decade with me, and leave the mistakes behind. My clothes will have to do their best to keep up.