With the Superbowl nearing, I am bubbling with anticipation as a New York Jets fan. The excitement just keeps building. However, few people know that I grew up as a New York Giants fan, in a family of Giants fans.
Growing up I learned to love sports. I played all sorts of team sports such as soccer, softball and volleyball. In 1986 I both learned to play football in gym class and I caught Giants fever when they were on their way to the Superbowl. I had been a devoted fan well into adulthood. I’d collected team paraphernalia such as hats, shirts and mugs and adored it all. One year, I even enjoyed a special gift of seats at the championship game where the Giants won 41-0. What a thrill!
However, just a few years later, something changed. I had for years thought about by purchase and patronage of businesses and the impact my consumer decisions have on the world. I was buying organic and fair trade food whenever possible, supporting local business, trying to buy in ‘made in the USA’ and avoid sweatshop products. I searched for union made products and even began researching the foundations of large corporations and where they gave their money.
The process of being this careful is both enlightening and daunting. I had the luxury of being able to afford choose where I shop. I avoided Wal Mart and Regal Cinemas and did my best to be aware of as much as possible. However, I never thought about my sports teams. Why would I?
Professional sports teams are brands and regardless of whether a the National Football League or National Baseball League are officially non-profit clubs, the leagues, team owners and companies selling team brand merchandise make a lot of money.
Then a good friend told me something that changed my life (in a sense). She informed me that the New York Giants Foundation, run by the owners of the New York Giants, were large donors to organizations like the Eagle Forum and Focus on the Family. These two organizations were particularly troubling to me due to their work against women’s access to reproductive health care. I was already working for a reproductive rights organization and here I was patronizing an organization whose owners were working against me.
Of course I did not just take my friend’s word for it. I did my research. It can be more difficult than you think. I could not get the information I was looking for on the Mara Foundation web site. So I went to a better source: Guidestar,org. This site let’s you view foundation and nonprofit tax forms where they have to disclose to whom they give money or from whom they receive money.
Gahhhh! She was right! It was all that and more. So now I was in a tough spot. How would I keep to my values and still enjoy professional football? Would I compromise my values and stick with a team I had loved and cheered for most of my life? Would I keep my team shirt and hats? Yes, that was an important question.
When I shared my concern with my family and friends they scoffed. “It’s just football,” “You’ve been a fan since you were a kid,” were just a few of the nicer comments I received. It was still a serious issue to me and I was troubled that my support would help an organization which is fighting against the very freedoms I worked every day to achieve.
Could I be a football fan and still remain true to my values? I was determined. So I bid farewell to the Giants and spent a full year trying to decide to which team I would switch my allegiance. I looked through many web sites and organizations. Many NFL teams have foundations focused on youth activities and nutrition, education and poverty.
The New York Jets Foundation looked like an excellent organization and I would still be cheering for a team in my own state. Two of my brother-in-laws were also fans and I really liked the head coach and quarterback at the time, Herman Edwards and Chad Pennington. What a relief! I had made a decision! I threw myself back into the sport, learning new players and a new history.
It took some time to really get excited about the game again. I did not want to give up watching a sport I love, nor did I want to support people I did not believe in. So here I am, a New York Jets fan!
In the end, I am glad I took time to pause, think and research where I am putting my money and support. Is it possible to be a consumer who only buys and supports companies and organization with which you are completely politically aligned? I am not sure. I try as much as I can. This year, I am rewarded in watching the New York Jets play for the AFC Championship, and maybe, just maybe, the Superbowl!
Showing posts with label social justice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label social justice. Show all posts
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Celebrating 38 years of Roe v. Wade
Today is the 38th anniversary of the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade. It is appropriate that my first full post falls on this date not just because I worked for a reproductive rights organization for the last ten years, but also, because I have wanted to write about it for even longer. I recently left that organization, allowing me to speak more freely.
Today I celebrate Roe v. Wade not because I fought to protect it for the past ten years but because women in the United States are still fortunate to have the right to make their own health care decisions. Without Roe v. Wade politicians would make decisions about from which health care procedures I can or cannot benefit, not me with the consult of a physician. It is a wonderful and awesome burden to carry.
The decisions women have to make about their lives, their health and that of their family are complex and difficult. For most women an unintended or problem pregnancy can be life changing, but every situation is different. In fact, their are as many reasons for choosing an abortion as their are women.
According to the Guttmacher Institute, half of all women in the United States will face an unintended pregnancy and 1 in 3 women will have an abortion within their lifetime. That is astounding. Many people uncomfortable with abortion use this statistic to call for a ban on the procedure. This statistic should bring just the opposite reaction. How can you ban a medical procedure that a third of American women will need in their lifetime? That is a horrible way to deal with the problem.
Yes, we all want to decrease the need for abortion. Banning, or even restricting access to the procedure cannot achieve that. We must first look at the many reasons women decide to have an abortion. The most common reason is that the pregnancy was unintended. Judging women for a lack of intention makes children a punishment instead of a joy. Instead, we must make preventing pregnancy easier in the first place. We must work toward better education and access to health care services.
We also must increase women’s parenting options. That means health insurance coverage of prenatal/maternity care, birth options, post natal and pediatric care. It also means living wages, affordable child care and employment protection for caregivers. In other words, our society must value motherhood. Anyone who calls him or herself pro-life must fully support and actively fight for these services. For without them, a woman cannot make a fair decision about unintended pregnancy and motherhood.
This goes right back to the difficult decisions (and sometimes easy decisions) women must make when facing an unintended pregnancy. The first question that often comes to mind is, “Can I care for a baby?” And if all the above things are not in line, the answer is more often than not no.
But even if the answer is yes, the pregnancy can still go awry. I have heard far too many heart wrenching tales of pregnancies that have had terrible outcomes, where long into the pregnancy, it was terminated to protect the mother’s health or life.
In my active fight for reproductive rights and justice, I have never asked anyone to support an abortion for themselves. Instead, I ask others to try to understand the world in which these difficult decisions are made and to respect and honor others decisions. I ask others to ensure that women have the ability to make and carry out this decision.
Carrying out her decision would have to mean she does not have to
Despite all my discouragement regarding access to health care and circumstances to make a decision regarding an unintended pregnancy, I am still celebratory of Roe v. Wade. I am still grateful for being able to find safe abortion care in the United States. Indeed it, and all the hoops placed around it is all my generation has known.
However, I hope that the future holds a world where every child is wanted and loved.
Today I celebrate Roe v. Wade not because I fought to protect it for the past ten years but because women in the United States are still fortunate to have the right to make their own health care decisions. Without Roe v. Wade politicians would make decisions about from which health care procedures I can or cannot benefit, not me with the consult of a physician. It is a wonderful and awesome burden to carry.
The decisions women have to make about their lives, their health and that of their family are complex and difficult. For most women an unintended or problem pregnancy can be life changing, but every situation is different. In fact, their are as many reasons for choosing an abortion as their are women.
According to the Guttmacher Institute, half of all women in the United States will face an unintended pregnancy and 1 in 3 women will have an abortion within their lifetime. That is astounding. Many people uncomfortable with abortion use this statistic to call for a ban on the procedure. This statistic should bring just the opposite reaction. How can you ban a medical procedure that a third of American women will need in their lifetime? That is a horrible way to deal with the problem.
Yes, we all want to decrease the need for abortion. Banning, or even restricting access to the procedure cannot achieve that. We must first look at the many reasons women decide to have an abortion. The most common reason is that the pregnancy was unintended. Judging women for a lack of intention makes children a punishment instead of a joy. Instead, we must make preventing pregnancy easier in the first place. We must work toward better education and access to health care services.
We also must increase women’s parenting options. That means health insurance coverage of prenatal/maternity care, birth options, post natal and pediatric care. It also means living wages, affordable child care and employment protection for caregivers. In other words, our society must value motherhood. Anyone who calls him or herself pro-life must fully support and actively fight for these services. For without them, a woman cannot make a fair decision about unintended pregnancy and motherhood.
This goes right back to the difficult decisions (and sometimes easy decisions) women must make when facing an unintended pregnancy. The first question that often comes to mind is, “Can I care for a baby?” And if all the above things are not in line, the answer is more often than not no.
But even if the answer is yes, the pregnancy can still go awry. I have heard far too many heart wrenching tales of pregnancies that have had terrible outcomes, where long into the pregnancy, it was terminated to protect the mother’s health or life.
In my active fight for reproductive rights and justice, I have never asked anyone to support an abortion for themselves. Instead, I ask others to try to understand the world in which these difficult decisions are made and to respect and honor others decisions. I ask others to ensure that women have the ability to make and carry out this decision.
Carrying out her decision would have to mean she does not have to
- drive too far to find a provider
- face violence when she does reach her provider
- wait twenty-four hours after she has already made her decision
- get permission from her parents or partner or rapist
- pay too much for the procedure due to lack of health insurance, or
- be forced to pay for and view an medically unnecessary ultrasound.
Despite all my discouragement regarding access to health care and circumstances to make a decision regarding an unintended pregnancy, I am still celebratory of Roe v. Wade. I am still grateful for being able to find safe abortion care in the United States. Indeed it, and all the hoops placed around it is all my generation has known.
However, I hope that the future holds a world where every child is wanted and loved.
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