Governor McDonnell and Attorney General Cuccinelli,

 

The women of Virginia are watching as you strip our rights away by implementing TRAP regulations in Virginia, and we will certainly remember this decision the next time we are at the polls. I ask you to consider how your viewpoint on a woman's legal right to choose if and when she should become a mother would change if you, yourself, were a woman. A woman who lives in a world filled with sexual assaults, rapes, domestic violence, and other forms of male violence and intimidation. A woman who, despite her best intentions, may not always be in a position to determine whether or not she  becomes pregnant. A woman who may jeopardize her health by being forced to carry to term and deliver a baby when her body is not healthy or strong enough to do so...a woman who may jeopardize her sanity by being forced to birth and care for a child she is not mentally fit to support...a woman who may jeopardize her educational opportunties and economic security by being forced to forgo education and training for breastfeeding and changing diapers. 

 

These scenarios are ones you - as men - have never had to personally confront, and are one hundred percent safe in assuming you never will. But the women of Virginia - and of the world - are not so fortunate. These scenarios - and many others surrounding the extremely sensitive and personal role of being childbearers - are the exclusive domain of women. That is why it is imperative that politicians - especially male politicians - respect women and leave the decision of whether or not to continue or terminate a pregnancy in their hands alone. For that decision is not only a woman's right, it is alone her burden and responsibility as well. Male politicians should redirect their energies away from trying to control women and limit their choices and instead focus on how to combat the male violence that is so prevalent and so damaging in our society today.