By Heather Tom

What is the first thing you think of when you hear the phrase "the right to choose”? Ask anyone this question and invariably the response will have something to do with abortion. Granted, access to abortion is probably the most volatile aspect of women's health. It certainly gets the most air time. It is arguably a "sexier" topic than, say, access to contraception or medically accurate sex education.

The radical right has used the abortion debate to define the entire issue of reproductive freedoms. Their message is black or white. It says that if you are anti-abortion, then you must be anti-choice, and therefore, anti-planned parenthood. They have skillfully used this controversial issue to distract the public and the media from their more radical agenda: limiting access to contraception. It is not a conspiracy theory, it is happening.

After all, who has time to worry about pharmacists who won't fill birth control prescriptions, when South Dakota is banning abortion, even in cases of rape and incest, in a direct challenge to Roe? Why should we concern ourselves with an FDA that refuses to rule on over-the-counter emergency contraception, clearly putting politics ahead of science, when George W. insists on nominating staunchly anti-choice candidates for lifetime seats on the Supreme Court? And our elected officials allow them to be confirmed? Hello? Filibuster anyone? What's the point of having the means to block a nomination if it's never used? If Sam Alito isn't an extreme case, who is? But we have no time for outrage. Who has the energy to worry about the "smaller issues" when our right to choose is being threatened?

But what does this right really encompass? Can it really be summed up with one capitalized, red-lettered word: ABORTION? And if abortion is the only issue, then whose fight is this anyway? I mean, unless you're a bleeding-heart, liberal woman of child bearing age, why should you care?

Well, okay, maybe you know someone who is a bleeding-heart, liberal woman of child-bearing age, and you should support her in her crusade. What does it hurt to be privately pro-choice, maybe sign a petition now and then, hear her out when she drones on about a right that you'll never have to rely on. Sure, no one wants the government dictating our private choices, but

is this really a gay issue? Let's face it, unplanned pregnancy isn't as much of a problem in the gay community as it is in the straight community. If you're a gay man or woman, how much does the right to choose really affect you?

That's the trouble with defining this issue strictly in terms of abortion, when it's really about something that we all should be concerned with, men, women, gay, straight, liberal, and conservative: personal freedom. In effect, the American Dream. Sounds lofty? Hear me out.

We, as Americans, are taught that we can be whomever we choose to be. We can take any opportunity that comes our way. Any little girl or boy can grow up to be president. We can go from rags to riches with hard work and perseverance. We have the freedom to choose our own destinies. Sounds nice, huh? And it doesn't matter if it's all a myth spurred by propaganda, we still want to believe in it. This is the spirit on which our country was founded. Like it or not, it is the essence of being American. It is the thing that the rest of the world envies and strives for, no matter how much the say they hate us.

This spirit tells us that we are entitled to be happy, to get married, to have children, to make a decent wage, to grow old sitting on the front porch sipping lemonade. Or not. That's the beautiful thing about the American Dream: It can come in any shape or form.

Reproductive freedom walks hand in hand with this spirit. When a woman chooses the number and spacing of her children, she is choosing her own destiny. She is saying: "This is the life I want to live, this is the person I want to be." All of us should take these freedoms seriously because to diminish the rights of one is to diminish the rights of all. This is why we must continue to stand up and fight for equal civil rights for all people regardless of sex, race, creed, or sexual orientation. And this is why we must stand up, open our mouths, speak loudly and often to make people pay attention to women's health. Even when our media doesn't want to, even when our legislators don't want to, even in the face of the staunchest opposition from the current administration, we have to make them understand that we know that the right to choose means more than just access to abortion. Tell them that family planning is about personal freedom. Ask them to question how someone can be both anti-choice and anti-pregnancy prevention. Tell them we are tired of letting the right define this issue.

And when I say "them," I don't just mean the nutcase standing on the street corner shouting that we're all going to hell. I mean our families, our friends, and our co-workers. I mean the 65 percent who support a woman's right to choose, the 88 percent who support access to contraception, the 81 percent who want medically accurate sex education in our schools. It is just as important to talk to those who agree with us as it is to talk to those who don't. Maybe more so.

Tell them that access to abortion is just the tip of the iceberg, and you are not being reactionary or paranoid or dramatic. Tell them this is everyone's issue. We have been patiently waiting for public outcry to catch up with public opinion. We cannot wait any longer. Ask them where the outrage is? And then tell them to vote.