No peace on earth... let's go to another planet.

And here I wanted to write about Istanbul...But instead, I find myself angry and sad at the state of our country. Feel free to skip this post if you just want to hear about my travels-- this is going to be a rant about women's rights and gun control. I've been watching the argument about defunding Planned Parenthood for the last few weeks, and increasingly been just exhausted by it. I'm exhausted fighting against a complete and utter lack of facts. I'm exhausted that the same people who are most adamant about the government staying out of the lives of citizens are the quickest to sell out the rights of women to control their own health, wellbeing, and bodies.

Let's be totally clear-- zero federal dollars fund abortion. This is already the law. Federal dollars fund access to birth control, annual health screenings, vaccinations, cholesterol and blood pressure tests, cancer screenings. Planned Parenthood served as my primary healthcare provider for years, when I didn't have health insurance, when I was too broke to even pay my copay, when I didn't feel comfortable navigating a new clinical health system to identify a doctor I trusted, Planned Parenthood went above and beyond to make me feel safe and comfortable despite the fact that they wouldn't get a dime out of me. And I still prefer them. A health clinic built around supporting women is a rare and important thing.

I have seen wonderful, strong, amazing women that I surround myself with brought to tears in the recent weeks watching the most personal decisions they have ever made, including the decision to have an abortion, torn apart and dissected by people who, by nature of their gender, never have to make that decision. Some people don't want, or are not equipped, to have children. From a financial level, the cost of carrying a pregnancy to term to put it up for adoption is much higher than the cost of having an abortion. From a health perspective, an abortion is a safer procedure than giving birth. From a scientific perspective, a fertilized egg is not a life. Eggs are fertilized and do not result in a child being born all the time. From a religious perspective, nobody is requiring you as an individual to have an abortion. If you do not believe in it, you have all the right in the world to carry a pregnancy to term. That's wonderful! If, however, you believe that your religious freedom gives you the right to force your views onto another person, this is not what our religious freedom guarantees. It is the freedom of the individual to practice their religion as they see fit. Not to force those beliefs on people who believe differently from you.

Which brings me to rant number two.... gun control. I dont get it. I really don't. I'm happy to concede that restricting the type of gun being sold is something like a bandaid on a bullet wound (no pun intended). But tens of thousands of Americans die every year because of gun related violence, three fifths through self inflicted wounds. And there are totally non-restrictive ways to prevent this. A national system for purchase approval with a minimum federal standard for purchase eligibility, more stringent mental health and firearm competence checks, required proof of safe storage of weapons, laws governing safe storage, background checks for all gun sales, a national database of registered firearms that private sellers can access to transfer guns to purchasers and also perform requisite background checks. And given the link between guns and suicides, a mandatory waiting period to buy (it can even have a waiver for people who go through enhanced pre-approval for purchasing, similar to TSA pre-screening). 

I'm exhausted by our country. So here's some happy news from Iraq instead.