Women deserve the right to choose

Why is it that men think they have the right to limit the choices women have when it comes to their bodies? And usually the excuse given is defending religious freedom. No one is denying anyone's right to practice any religion they want, even when that religion would deny women access to medical and contraceptive care. That is what freedom of religion is all about. So I can choose a religion that supports women's freedom of choice when it comes to their health, their bodies and their partners. And you can choose a religion which wants to prohibit those choices.

We can also choose a government that wants to protect the right of women to have access to health care and reproductive choices. One that recognizes and respects women as equals in the workplace and the military and does not make women into second-class citizens when it comes to choosing a life partner. Or you can choose, or let others choose, a government that demeans women and threatens every right we have fought for and won. The choice is yours.

Women appear to have made a choice as 98 percent of Catholic women and 99 percent of all women use or have used contraceptives, often as a medical necessity. And most men support this choice and indeed even benefit from it.

It's a well-known fact that contraceptives have prevented more abortions resulting from unwanted pregnancies than all the religious attacks on women's choice ever could hope to.

Larry Hodgden

Tipton