January 22nd - what does it mean to you?

Today is January 22nd, 2013.  January 22nd.  It is a date that twigs for so many of us.  Sure it represents birthdays, work events, social outings... but for me, January 22nd is the anniversary of Roe v. Wade.  It always will be.  I feel a bit like a slacker in that I have protested anything in a while.  I spent to many years standing in front of the U.S. Supreme Court representing.  Our NOW chapter, Capital City NOW had a standing demo on January 22nd.  Sometimes it was bone chilling cold. Sometimes it was decently comfortable. It was always eventful.  We learned how to keep candles lit in a gale wind, we learned how to work with and keep happy the very special Supreme Court police, we learned how to keep moving so as not to incommode - or block the sidewalk - which would be illegal.  I didn't realize until I left DC how very privileged I was to protest at the Supreme Court each year.

There are so many memories and stories from those demonstrations.   I loved that event.  There we were, sometimes outnumbered many times over, standing firm for what we believed in.  Literally.  There are plenty of time when the anti abortion demonstrators, while shouting love, were literally threatening and intimidating to push us back and away from the site.  Always trying to divert your attention from the really hard issues of a woman's decision to terminate a pregnancy, protesters were in your face showing gruesome photos, they were demanding answers to questions like, "aren't you glad your mother didn't abort you?"  There were large men pushing and shoving into groups of women standing their ground singing or chanting... doing everything in our power to remain peaceful yet strong.

There were times when I was physically scared.  There were times when I was too busy as an organizer to know I should have been scared.  But more than anything, there was a camaraderie and a strength of purpose.  We, this band of women and men, were standing at the foot of the highest court in the land to demand our most basic rights to bodily integrity. We were there to protect rights that have been and continue to be methodically and bureaucratically eroded over the forty years since Roe was passed.  We were there.  We were taking a stand.

I made some of my best friends in the world during those years.  I literally depended on those women to have my back. Sometimes we were a bit too ambitious.  I remember once when we decided that it would be dramatic to set the Webster decision on fire as a symbolic act.  Uh, not a good idea. Who knew it was against the law to have open flame on the Supreme Court steps?  I remember struggling to come up with new chants and finding people to be willing and able to lead them.  "Not so fast, slow it down, you've got people literally out of breath and running in a circle!!"  I remember getting a megaphone for a Hanukkah or birthday present one year -- how telling is that?  Mostly though, I remember talking to young women who had been bused into DC to participate in the March for Life, who surreptitiously would come over to us and talk.  They wanted information.  They wanted knowledge and they wanted it so they could make their own decisions, not have fear and threats force someone else's decisions on them.

I can remember one event, not at the Supreme court, when we decided to add a little humor to our protest.  We were distributing condoms at a table clearly identified as Lesbians for Life.  No one got it.  They they all thought we were thespians.  That will always be one of my favorites.

But I digress.  I did enjoy my friends and our adventures.  What I enjoyed more than anything was my actions.  I knew that I had done what I could.  That I didn't just sit and bitch, I took action.  Whether I really made a difference is anyone's guess but I tried.  I lived the convictions of my beliefs.

Today, I don't spend nearly as much time protesting or demonstrating.  I'm far more likely to write a check to my favorite cause then to hit the streets.  And that's okay too. Times change, life changes.  But what I do know is that my beliefs haven't changed.  In fact, as I get older, I think my beliefs just get stronger.  I don't need to understand why as much, I just need to understand.  Now as I watch friends with babies and grand babies, I do understand just how precious life is.  Everyone's life. If my body is not my own, what kind of life do I have?  It is really as simple as that.  It is my body, my life, my right to decide.

Catchy, huh?  For those who don't know how tenuous these rights are, we need to teach.  For those of us who are tired of walking in circles in the cold, it is up us to find other ways to participate and stay in the conversation.

Commemorate this day for the auspicious day that it is. It is a day of politics, but it is also a day of connection, of ties that bind. They say all politics is personal.  It is true in my case.  Thank you to all of the friends who stood with me, who sang and chanted with me and who joined me afterwards for the annual pilgrimage to Mr. Henry's which became every bit a part of the Roe candlelight vigil as the demo.  Thank you.  Thank  you for protecting my rights.  It matters.