Ooh baby, is that crocodile dung?

On this lovely Saturday, I had a fairly desperate errand to attend. In need of refills and 2 months shy of my annual gynecological visit, it was off to Planned Parenthood I went. It was packed for a weekend, more so than usual, and I waited in a long line to even be carded for admittance (thank you, right wing fanatics!)

Ahead of me was a fairly young woman and her male companion, who became rather distraught when it appeared they could not find her appointment. When asked why she was there by the receptionist, she hissed quietly "An abortion of course, how do you not know this?!" The interchange with "Buffy" and "Biff" took quiet some time, during which I really took a dislike to her. Soon, I wanted to tap her on the shoulder and say, "Hey, I realize this is probably the worst day of your life, but these people are marvelous and here to help you....stop biting the hand already!"

"Buffy" was agog that they would be unable to call her cell phone when there was an opening, thus allowing her to return to her Gold Coast apartment around the corner. Instead, she would have to wait among the unwashed masses for 3-6 hours while they scrambled their appointments to fit her in. Again, the urge to jump up and down on her precious pink Ugg boots was overwhelming to me. Did she not realize that with Samuel Alito looking to be confirmed to the high court, this was a huge deal that she was even allowed to be there? I guess the adage: "Don't know what you got..." holds true.

Even my basic purchases were a "choice" and a "right" that Mr. Alito would like to see denied. Stupid people are dangerous, Stupid people in power are deadly. In his ignorant and uninformed legal ramblings (page 11, for the skimmers), Mr. Alito stated in that "some forms of birth control are ‘abortifacients' " and lumped birth control pills, the contraceptive ring and the IUD in as being no different than abortions. His argument hinges on the fact that while the primary goal of these birth control methods is to impede egg production by the ovaries, they also thicken the uterine lining to prevent implantation should an egg be produced and fertilized. Due to the extreme right-wing's assertion that life begins at conception, the followed train of thought would then make this lumping possible.

What's a gal to do in this very scary, fingers-crossed it never comes down to that event? Personally, should this travesty come to light, I will be looking in to my Canadian and European options and organizing some lovely gal-pal "weekends". Or there are many other options that humans have discovered over the years, here's a history.

As I exited after filling my prescription, one of the volunteers opened the door for me on my way out and said almost apologetically, "We have a small group of protesters who might approach you, please feel free to ignore them and have a nice day." I wanted to hug her. Thank you for being here and for allowing me to fulfill my rights, even if it's just for today.