"“If you want to make decisions about my uterus and my reproductive life, you get to make all the decisions about my life. You don’t get to cherry pick.” -- Bethany EricksonThat's how Texas mom Bethany Erickson began the Need Your Permission campaign. It started as a one-day event via her Facebook page and has swept through Texas and onto other states facing restrictions on women's access to reproductive healthcare. Women were invited to Tweet, fax, email, and phone the governor, lieutenant governor, and Texas legislators to ask their permission to make decisions on everything from tampons to lunch decisions to which wireless phone company to select.
So many women took part that Karen Teegarden of UniteWomen.org asked Erickson's permission to expand the effort and take it nationwide, so that women in other states where reproductive rights are being challenged could invite their own legislators and other state leaders to help make those decisions that are too tough for mere females.
Currently, there are Need Your Permission events taking place in 26 states, and there is one federal-level event as well.
We're doin' it live here in North Carolina now for the coming month. Will you join us?
