Religious beliefs often affect one’s decisions about pregnancy options.  My upbringing as a Unitarian certainly influenced my thoughts about on the subject.  I was raised in the Unitarian Church whose members are guided by several principles- justice, equality and compassion in human relations and recognizing the inherent worth and dignity of each person.  Because of these and other principles,  Unitarians are often known as  changemakers and include such members as Henry David Thoreau, John Adams and his son John Quincy, Susan B. Anthony, and feminist Mary Wollstonecraft, as well as vocal leaders and writers who worked tirelessly for the betterment of those around them.

I grew up in a family of five children, my mother a nurse, my father a physician.  Our early years began in Eskimo villages and Indian reservations where my dad was a pediatrician for Indian Health Service and my mother started the first Headstart Program for native Americans. 

After we settled in Montana, Mom started the first Planned Parenthood in Montana. At the time there was no organized health department and no sexuality education in the schools.  A clinic was set up offering  Pap smears, contraception, counseling and staffed with volunteer physicians.  Women were educated about contraceptive choices and could decide what would work best for them.  Part of the educational process was the showing of reel-to-reel films.  On many a Wednesday evening, Mom would take me to the clinic to work the projector in the waiting room. The films consisted of  basic information of anatomy, contraceptive choices and how to use them. I was so proud to string the celluloid tape through the machine in the complex way it needed to be looped and start the films.  The waiting room would be filled with all types of women- young, old, wealthy, poor.  It did not matter your circumstances- my mother provided services that helped so many women.

Later in his career as a my father became the medical director of Planned Parenthood of Montana, an organization with clinical sites in seven different locations and after Roe became the law of the land, he became an abortion provider.  No longer did women in Montana have to travel to another state or to Mexico to terminate a pregnancy.  He was a soft-spoken person and I believe he gave care to each person with compassion.  He learned the circumstances of each individual and realized the complexity of the lives and decisions each person needed to make.  I hear many people talk about women who obtain abortions as if this is a decision that is taken lightly after a night of “fun” and a “oops”.  This could not be farther from the truth. 

I followed my parents into the world of health care- but in a different specialty.  The lessons I learned through them are still relevant.  Each person deserves to be treated as an individual, with compassion and care.  Each person has the right to good safe care.  Women have the right to make choices and decisions about their own health- they need education, available care and need it to be without judgement.   

My father died last year and in going through his things we found some of letters women had written to him thanking him for his kindness and compassionate care he had rendered.  And Mom still has former patients now in their 50’s and 60’s who approach her in the grocery store to say, “You don’t remember me, but you helped me 30 years ago when there was no one else and no other place to go”.

It is with great pride I tell this story of my parents.  They we change makers for the betterment of women. 

We need a restoration of reproductive rights for women in Idaho.  Women are smart- they know the right decision for themselves.  The state just needs to provide them with their rights and options