A Pro-Choice Governor for South Carolina

You may have heard about all the idiotic anti-abortion bills floating around the SC Statehouse.  Sadly, this is business as usual for many of our legislators.  Bills like "personhood" and "preborn" and commissioning monuments to birth keep popping up, and like whack-a-mole, our good legislators continue to vote no.  But last year, one of the bills passed the House before being rejected by the Senate.  Pure single-mindedness could actually get one of the hair-brained bills turned into law.

Meanwhile, in 2010, Vincent Sheheen ran for Governor against Nikki Haley.  He's a good guy, a loyal Democrat, but talks too long and hard about cooperating, and while he claimed to be pro-choice before the primaries, he became far more wishy-washy before the general election, a fact that Haley was more than willing to use to her advantage.

We don't need a watered down republican in the Governor's mansion; we need someone who will unflinchingly defend a woman's right to reproductive freedom.

Here is a draft of a letter to Senator Sheheen encouraging him to stand up for a woman's right to choose, and vote no on any bill that infringes on that right:

___________, 2013

Senator Vincent Sheheen

504 Gressette Building

Columbia, South Carolina 29201

Dear Senator Sheheen:

I am a Democratic voter in South Carolina who is concerned about bills regarding women – and families – right to reproductive privacy. I am concerned that our state legislature has taken upon itself to redefine “life” to an absurd degree, in order to dictate mores that certain of our legislators believe to be Christian, but which are contemporary inventions.

Here in South Carolina there is much importance placed on “freedom.” Yet there are those elected by us that would vote to impose their presence within the bedroom and the doctor's office. There are bills that seek to determine unreasonable criteria for doctors who might perform abortions, which are legal procedures, and for those clinics that offer that service.

This is not only a travesty of the concept of individual freedoms These bills would jeopardize our right to religious freedom. They presume that our legislators are a religious authority, and not merely people elected to preserve the welfare of the citizens of this state.

Meanwhile, this battle over the control of a woman's reproductive choices is taking place while our quality of life in South Carolina continues to suffer. Poor education, high unemployment and low wages, inadequate health care are all issues that our legislators need to be addressing. Criminalizing a woman's reproductive health choices does in no way improve our quality of living. Rather, it drains our resources.

I understand that you are considering running for governor in 2014. I would be delighted to support someone who truly reflects Democratic values. I believe that a Democrat fights for our freedoms, and that includes the freedom of a woman, and her family, and her doctor, and her religious beliefs, in making her reproductive choices.

I would be unable to support your campaign if you vote for any of the anti-choice legislation that is proposed.

Thank you for your serious consideration of these matters, and I looking forward to your reply.

Very truly yours,

We would like to encourage you to send this letter, or some version of it, or your own original letter, to Senator Sheheen.  Snail mail will have more of an impact, but email will work. The more letters he gets, the more aware he will be of how important this issue is, not just to the women of the state, but to his election campaign.  Now is the time to let him know where we stand.

To paraphrase Arlo Guthrie, if three people did it, he might think it's some kind of an organization, and if 50 people did it, he might think it's a movement.

And it is a movement.