We’re having a girl! I’m so so so excited to be having a little girl. I can’t wait to shower with so much love and get to know her. I want to raise her knowing she is beautiful and good and never leave room for her to doubt that. I know Mike is beyond thrilled to be a “girl dad.” And he’s actually the kind of man a lot of little girls should have in their lives, a man that empowers people and helps them and puts them first.

My mom put together a Zoom call with a bunch of our family members from both sides so we could announce the gender. It makes me all warm inside to have such a solid support system because being pregnant can feel kind of lonely, especially living so far from our families. It’s incredible to have a strong, loving family and supportive friends because if I didn’t have that plus my wonderful husband and dog, I think I would be slowly dissolving into a puddle of anger and anxiety.

If you didn’t know, I am extremely pro-choice/pro-abortion. I didn’t used to be like that, like most kids that grew up in extremely religious households, but I…matured. My change stems from pure indignation that forced birthers (they are not actually pro-life) think they have the right to tell other people what they can and cannot do with their bodies. Only one person gets to make that decision and not even I can have an opinion on that even if I support their decision. Abortion rights shouldn’t even be up for debate because it is not a community decision like climate change or legalizing marijuana or how we spend our taxes.

Abortion affects one person. That person should make the decision, full stop. And anyone using the Bible or God as their argument against this, hasn’t actually read the Bible. God Himself said he gave Adam life with a breath of air and that is repeated throughout the Bible.

I bring this up because we’re in an insane moment of reality where the Supreme Court (an unelected body of old, conservative shitheads) is stripping people of their right to bodily autonomy and privacy and furthering the destruction of our planet.

If religious folks actually adhered to the Bible and did what God wanted, things would look radically different. For example, the fact that we are literally terraforming this planet into an uninhabitable environment for human, animal and plant life. God gave us the Earth to live on, thrive on, grow things and live in community with each other and we’re largely disregarding that. I say “we” as in the very religious zealots who only care about controlling people’s rights and fueling the very destruction of our planet by allowing corporations and militaries to kill our planet. That is the antithesis to God and what Jesus taught but you already know they don’t care about that.

It’s hard not to fall deep into despair some days. But hope is a powerful, almost delusional thing. I still hope and pray for the best. Because I think ultimately human beings are good, if not extremely misguided. I think we can find that spark of community and build together if we try. Too much individualism is unhealthy. It can cause isolation and loneliness and make people so fucking selfish. We depend on each other and there’s no shame in that. Stop letting American patriotism sway you differently.

If you read this and feel some type of way about it, I suggest you look inward and do some reflecting. We lack a lot of respect for each other in the way we try to control each other. We need to do better. We have to be better. Future generations depend on it.