Women's Rights
I’ve always been well aware of the seemingly invisible workings of the patriarchy we live in, of being discriminated against as a woman, and disturbingly aware of the many teenage students I saw get pregnant and repeat their cycle of poverty and struggle as a result. Women having the right to control what happens to their own bodies is essential to a healthy society. Countries that have the right to choose and educate citizens about sex, sexuality, and sexual preferences have much lower abortion, death-in-childbirth, and fetal fatality rates.
In Austin I have walked pregnant women across hostile lines for them to get abortion services. At the risk of losing my job as a teacher, I had private and class discussions about teenage pregnancy, birth control and abortion. At the onset of dating, I took my own children and their boyfriends/girlfriends to Planned Parenthood to discuss sex and birth control so that when they had sex, they would have it responsibly and enjoy it. And after having 3 of my own children, my husband and I discussed a vasectomy. He says having the vasectomy was the second-best decision he’s made in his life – after marrying me, of course.
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I am in full support of Austin’s GRACE Act; deprioritizing the investigation or enforcement of any charges related to pregnancy and abortion in Austin.
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I further support blocking the use of any city funding or other resources for information sharing, data collection and surveillance related to abortion services and other reproductive health decisions.
I also propose that the City of Austin:
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Ensures that science-based sex education be taught in public schools.
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Offers free vasectomies to all men over the age of 18. Mandate vasectomies for rapists.
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Offers free birth control and birth control counsel to all.