Missy Larsen is the Vice President of Public Policy for the Planned Parenthood Association of Utah.

It has been 16 years since Utah has tried to ban abortion and challenge the United States Supreme Court. One would have hoped that we had learned our lesson the first time. In 1991, Utah's taxpayers spent $1.2 million defending an unconstitutional law that only made it to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit. Today, lawmakers feel that enough has changed politically to make this challenge a winnable battle. Our lawmakers are shortsighted and wrong, and have misplaced their priorities as easily as they might misplace their car keys and cell phones.

We often hear that we are fighting a losing battle; we live in Utah after all. A woman asked me today how things are going — I said, "Good, we are going to win this thing." She looked stunned, like I had kicked her in the shins. Why are people so shocked that we are optimistic about the outcome? Is it really so far-fetched that women and families in Utah are appalled that our legislators are trampling on our free agency and abilities to make decisions about our health care choices?

Anytime women are faced with adversity we do what we do best — trust our instincts, talk with our friends and families, and do whatever we have to for the good of the community at large. It is time for us to unite and start having the conversations that really matter. We know that the very best way to prevent abortion is to provide family planning services coupled with affordable, accessible contraception and medically accurate sex education to all citizens.
Does the legislature not see that preventing surprise, unplanned, unintended pregnancy will all but eliminate the need for abortion? Do they not see that women with children and partners will sometimes be faced with the need to make this most private of decisions among their own support systems? That rape and incest victims should be protected at all costs?

Morality and conscience are not things that can be legislated from a "pulpit." Each individual human is born with a moral compass to use to navigate a world fraught with uncertainty. It is time for our leaders to understand that when women are trusted with their own morality, civilization as we know it will only become stronger and more brilliant.

Today, I urge you to stop using the excuse that we live in Utah and we cannot change the course of action in our politics. If every woman were to vote for people who will do their best to care for society, the faces of our leaders will change. Laws will pass that benefit all of society. Welfare rolls will go down, poverty and homelessness will become a rarity, public education will be fully funded, and we will live in a society where violence is not paraded around as the norm.

Why? Because women make decisions for the betterment of their families, their children, their neighborhoods. We are not so different, each of us. We all want to live in a place where every child is a wanted child and where abortion is safe, legal, and, most importantly — RARE.

Take the time now to empower yourselves to communicate with your legislator. They are in your house — a house you work hard to pay for and keep up. Let them know that banning abortion will surely lead to death and that preventing unintended pregnancy is the surest way to preserve life. We all live in Utah; it is our home. Talk to your friends, families, and colleagues. Start having a dialogue about your beliefs. Come out, come out wherever you are, and hold your leaders accountable because, after all, they work for you — not for some misplaced, misguided set of beliefs that only they are privy to finding.

Originally published on SaveRoe.com