It’s Not Easy Being Pro-Choice

Pamela Pizarro discusses the challenge of working in the sexual and reproductive health and rights field; it's not always easy, but it is necessary.

It's not always easy being pro-choice. You immerse yourself in a subject that would make most people cringe: sex. Then trying to explain to your family and friends, probably some who don't share the same point of view, that you believe that every individual should have the right to express who they are and have complete autonomy over their bodies. And it becomes even more complicated when you express that you believe that even children, teens, and young adults should have these rights guaranteed.

I have worked in the field of sexual and reproductive health and rights for nearly four years now. When I first began working it felt like I had found a cause that really encapsulated values that I saw as important. I also began to realize the difficulties of trying to explain what I did. Even today there are people in my life with whom I do not discuss the subject.

However, it also helped me to see more than ever that we need to fight for the rights of men and women, who can not raise their voices on their own. Small NGO's (nongovernmental organizations) help to bring services to the people that need them the most. Without these small, grassroots NGO's, the gap in essential services would continue to exist. However because of social conservatives, these workers sometimes take a risk with their lives. We hear about foreign workers killed or injured because they are attempting to change cultural norms, however we forget that in our own countries this problem still exists. For example, abortion providers are still being targeted by anti-choice individuals. In Canada, medical doctors that provide the procedure have been forced to go underground in some cases because they fear that they will be the target of an assassination attempt. Even professionals that work for pro-choice groups know that there is a risk that anti-choice people will show up at their offices to harass and intimidate them.

No, working for pro-choice organizations is not easy, but it is necessary. In order to change minds we need to educate through the programs that are out there. We need to fight the tide of social-conservatism to show that we all do not believe their rhetoric, and that we will walk the not often easy road of being pro-choice.