“Your writing’s pretty good until you get on one of them woman kicks.”

It seems I bear watching. Perhaps it is time to give it a rest. Nah! The opinions of this woman may not be shared by everyone. I don’t expect them to be. I don’t expect anyone to convert to my way of thinking. I’m open minded enough to accept that there are long-held beliefs some people will not let go of no matter how irrational their ego-maniacal, fear mongering behavior becomes.

For the most part, I’m a tolerant person. To Le Rant is my middle name in French. Tolerant, moderate, pro this, anti that, are only labels. I believe labels are used to marginalize independent thinkers who don’t share the beliefs of the powers that be and I prefer not to be labeled. If I must be, pro independence is appropriate. To be clear, it is my opinion that pro-choice does NOT mean pro abortion. Although there are some who believe those labels to be interchangeable. Likewise, pro-life does NOT mean life dictated by others. Not men, not other women, not the government, not the church. Simply stated, I am in favor of choosing for myself what is best for my life. I am also in favor of safe, healthy choices being accessible to everyone. As it should be in the land of the free.

There are many women, too many, who do not have access to proper medical care that is specific to a woman’s needs. This could be because people responsible for insuring adequate access could stand an education in the anatomy and physiology of women. Education would no doubt help law makers better understand what the needs of women truly are. Health services and big pharma business as usual will not be changing anytime soon; that’s a given. What needs to change is the fact that there are women with such limited options in this life that breaking the cycle of extreme poverty never becomes a matter of choice for them. The reasons? Abuse, neglect, domination. Take your pick.

Keeping the public safe from people behind the wheel of a moving vehicle who are texting is not a priority in Texas because according to the governor of Texas, THAT would be a “misguided government effort to micromanage the behavior of adult drivers.” I shake my head in amazement at just how asinine that statement is. Misguided government efforts to micromanage behavior must be something Texas legislators reserve for women. Claiming to care about the health and safety of women while limiting healthcare resources to women is about as misguided as it gets.

Fear mongering is a form of terrorism. Abusing power to maintain domination and perpetuate the subjugation of women is an act of tyranny. Denying services, limiting resources, restricting access, using regulation as a means of circumventing laws put in place to protect the rights of women and cloaking these actions in righteousness is worse than misguided. It is shamefully criminal. What is happening here in Texas is underhanded and exactly the brand of politics from which the founders of this country sought independence.