Atheist

I grew up in a Christian home going to a catholic grammar school for 8 years from 1st through 8th grade. I have also had friends and neighbors who have been different religions and creeds. My Ex Husband was a Muslim when I met him. I've known Jews and Gentiles alike yet they all have one thing in common, they all believe in a higher power or God. Last night though, was the first time I met someone who does not believe in any higher power other than science, he calls him self an Atheist'. I've never met someone like that in real life before and I found it enlightening to met him. After I had the "God" conversation with him and hearing his reasons for not believing in a higher power, I was convinced. I am now completely convinced that, there is no way there isn't a God. I know that God has helped me and my family get through some horrible times and my faith is even stronger now because he could not convince me otherwise. Every reason he had for not believing in God was something I had read or heard a counter argument for. Jesus even said himself in the bible that "blessed are those who have not seen me and yet have believed", ever heard of "Doubting Thomas?"  

Mississippi's War on Women!

Last year's voters sent a message by rejecting the "personhood" amendment but that didn't stop the lawmakers from conjuring another plan to deny women their right to choose abortion. The only abortion clinic in Mississippi is facing closure for "not complying" with state laws regarding abortion providers. The providers have to be board certified OB-GYN's and the staff must have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals. The same hospitals deny them these privileges due to the hospitals religious beliefs (hence, the "non- compliance). Mississippi has the lowest abortion rate AND the highest teen pregnancy rate in the entire nation. These statistics make sense since there is but one clinic. Women are forced to travel out of state to attain abortions IF they can afford to. Many of them are forced to carry unintended and unwanted pregnancies to term. Surely this affects the poverty rates in Mississippi. The poverty rate in Mississippi is 19% and females account for 57% of that number. Abortion and poverty intersect whether lawmakers believe this or not. Denying women their reproductive rights has its consequences and this is only one of them. It is a woman's rights to choose if and when she decides to parents and the nature in which she chooses to parent. This is why I love fighting for reproductive justice; the need is prevalent! We must continue to fight the war on women!!

Entertainment

So there's this new show on  Vh1 called Love and Hip hop Atlanta a spinoff of the original Love and  Hiphop which is shot in New York. One of the characters on the show is a producer named Stevie J. He is on the show with his Girlfriend/kids mother and he seems to really love her until they show him again in the studio a couple of minutes later with someone he calls his artist but whom he  is obviously sleeping with. The show is about 3 or 4 episodes in and this guy just gets continuously worse every episode with his escapades. That's not the problem though, It makes for good television. The issue I'm having is ...it seems like people are starting to not only accept him but congratulate him on being such a dog towards women. I even heard him being referred to as a PIMP (which by the way I think PIMPS are the scum of the earth)! Like how are his actions okay? he cheats on the women who loves him shows them no respect and gets rewarded for it. My concern is how  are kids looking at this. Little boys and girls are already growing up with Lil Wayne, Wacka Flocka, and Nicki Minaj as there role models. How much better can the influence of Stevie J be? I just hope that the generation under us will be able to see these people for what they are, a gimmick used to make money through entertainment. Because everyone wants to be entertained right?

The Supreme Court upheld the "Obamacare" healthcare reform yesterday in a  5-4 ruling. YEEESSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!. It absolutely boggles the mind for me why Some people (Rich people) cant fathom in there heads that were ( human beings) supposed to help one another . People help other people, isn't that the American christian way that this country was supposed to have been founded on centuries ago? yet Some people cant get it in there heads that if you are an employer you need to pay for health care for your employees (ehem ehem Walmart) and If you have a pre-existing condition you should not be denied  medical insurance because of that. Its not a hard concept to learn....come on!!!

RJ Activist and Proud of It!!!

Unwanted pregnancies do forever change the course of women’s lives. It starts the second we find out. The decisions to carry the pregnancy to term or the choice to have an abortion both carry lasting effects. For me, choosing to have an abortion forever changed me and the course of my life. I would not be here typing this blog if I had not chosen abortion. It’s hard to imagine my life being any other way. I’ve been exposed to a whole new struggle that I never knew existed. The struggle that I was faced with 5 years ago is the same one that women have been battling for decades; the struggle to govern their own bodies!

            I was unaware of the struggle that comes with being born with a VAGINA! How did it come to this? When and why do laws and lawmakers get to decide how and when women choose to become parents? And why are there millions of supporters for these politicians whose definition of woman means silent housewife, stand behind your man, cook and clean, and most importantly DON’T HAVE AN OPINION?! They are just as ignorant as I was before I had my abortion.

I am forever grateful to the Chicago Abortion Fund. I am more than a grantee. I am a once blind and silent young woman with no intentions of being any more than what I already was. Now I’m loud, resilient, and determined to create a world that doesn’t force feed my daughters the same bs I ate for 23 years! In the land of the free, why doesn’t my body belong to me?

Chicago Abortion Fund's Summer Film Series

Please join us this summer as we screen "The 'A' Word," "12th & Delaware" and "We Always Resist: Trust Black Women" at UIC's Jane Addams Hull-House Museum.

No charge, but donations to support CAF's work are always appreciated.

Come watch an insightful film and stay for the engaging discussion afterward!

Community Forum Today on Birth Control

Community Forum on Birth Control will be happening today at the K.L.E.O. Family Life Center at 5:30. I am so excited to be able to give back to the community the knowledge I have gained. Knowledge is nothing if you don't spread it.