Why I Oppose Sarah Palin.

Below, Co-WAP supporter Teresa explains what drives her opposition to Sarah Palin. We are very grateful to Teresa for sharing her story with us. A shorter version of this piece appeared as a letter to the editor of the Summit Daily over the weekend.

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It didn't take long after the announcement that Governor Sarah Palin had been selected to the number two spot of the Republican ticket for me to be appalled. Simply scratching the surface those first few days, I questioned her ethics, her experience, and her readiness. But what made my blood run cold was reading that she was opposed to abortion even in cases of rape and incest.

When I was in high school, some fifteen odd years ago, it was not unusual to find me in red-faced heated debate about abortion rights. In the locker room getting ready for cheerleading practice. Over pizza at the local hangout. During social studies class. I was young, opinionated and unbending in my views. I am quite familiar with Palin's stance, because it is one I espoused. I even opined on more than a few occasions that carrying a pregnancy, conceived of rape, to term would be 'healing' for the victim.

I cringe now imagining myself so pompously commanding to know what was best for all women. I was unaware at the time I so fervently argued against every woman's right to choose, including my own, that life had in store for me the unique opportunity to walk in the shoes I'd proclaimed to have so much insight into wearing.

In college I was raped and three weeks after the rape, a pregnancy test confirmed my worst fears. I had become pregnant as a result of the attack.

I found that, for me, rather than seeing the potential for 'healing' in continuing the pregnancy, I was debilitated by the mere thought of it. After much soul-searching and wrangling with my previous personal beliefs, I ultimately decided to terminate the pregnancy.

I no longer profess to know what is best for every woman in any case. Through the years I have shared my story many times in the hopes of protecting a right I so ardently fought to deny myself. It is the least I can do to thank those women and men before me who protected my right to choose, even as I railed against them.

I have not once abandoned the cause, even as I struggled through three miscarriages while trying to start a family with my husband. I shared my story at a State Senate Committee Hearing while 21 weeks pregnant with my daughter and facing the very real possibility that I might lose that pregnancy, too, due to pre-term labor. I cannot stress to you how important it is to me to keep abortion a safe and legal option for all women, but especially for those victims of rape and incest. Preserving choice has become my life's work.

Palin frightens me on numerous levels, but I am horrified by her position on this issue in particular. Palin has not walked in the shoes of a rape survivor. I hadn't either until, well, I did. I won't deny that I have an understanding of those who theorize about women and the shoes they wear. I have done that myself. But because I understand them does not mean that I won’t speak out against them. Women deserve better than the extreme Anti-Choice stance Palin represents.

Through the years, I have been touched by so many women who’ve shared their stories with me. They’ve approached me after rallies and sent me e-mails after reading my blog. I know that becoming pregnant after a rape is not so rare as we would like to think. A woman once e-mailed me and told me that she had been raped, became pregnant, and gave her son up for adoption. She went on to say how strong I am, how strong we all are, and she urged me to continue fighting the good fight. Rape survivors deserve a choice, she said. Whether it is the choice I made or you made or others have made. To this day I am encouraged by her. And I am simply compelled each time I look into my baby girl’s beautiful eyes and imagine her future.

Palin may have her lipstick. But I have my shoes. And in them, with my daughter on my hip, I will proudly continue to walk the path I’m on, preserving the rights of every daughter.