Pro-Choice is Pro-Trans

Years before my transition, when asked how I felt about abortion, I would jokingly I would say, “personally, I’d never have one.” It was my way of wiggling out of this very sensitive hot button issue without really answering the question. I don’t have the reproductive ability to carry a child to term, so I always felt the issue didn’t concern me.

I’ve come to realize over the years that a woman’s right to choose isn’t just about reproductive choice. At its core, it’s about who should be sovereign over your body. If the state can choose who can decide who has an abortion or who has access to birth control, is it that much of a leap to think the state wont try to stop me from modifying my own body?

My own statement, that I’d never have an abortion, misses the point entirely. I’m sure many people would never have sexual reassignment surgery, but that doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t have the right to do so.

Transadvocate contributor: Marti Abernathey  (1924 Posts)

Marti Abernathey is Transadvocate.com's blog editor. She's also a podcaster, activist, and radiologic technologist in Madison, Wisconsin. She's been a part of various internet radio ventures such as TSR Live!, The T-Party, and The Radical Trannies, to name a few. As an advocate she's previously been involved with the Indiana Transgender Rights Advocacy Alliance, Rock Indiana Campaign for Equality, and the National Transgender Advocacy Coalition. She's taken vital roles as a grass roots community organizer in The Indianapolis Tax Day Protest (2003), The Indy Pride HRC Protest (2004), Transgender Day of Remembrance (2004), Indiana's Witch Hunt (2005), and the Rally At The Statehouse (the largest ever GLBT protest in Indiana - 3/2005). She was a delegate from Indiana to the Democratic National Convention and a member of Barack Obama's LGBT Steering and Policy Committee.