Color me a feminist?

It's interesting to me how people are labeled - either according to beliefs, personality, opinions, or affiliations. I have been labeled so many things that it appears I am quite the hypocrite, depending on how you look at it. ;)

I've been labeled a feminist by some Christians, because I don't believe that the husband should be the governing authority when it comes to childbirth.

I've been labeled a right wing Christian for my staunch Pro-Life beliefs, and beliefs that the husband is the head of the household. We won't even get into the fact that I believe that women have no place, biblically, in political authority. Hehe.

I've been labeled as Anti-Cesarean as a whole...because yanno...ALL cesareans performed are necessary. A doctor would NEVER do something that isn't necessary.

I've been labeled as too militant when it comes to home birthing, unassisted birthing, etc. Silly me for believing that birth MATTERS. ;)

I've been labeled as too much of an advocate.

I've been labeled as not enough of an advocate.

I've been labeled incompetent by someone who portrays herself to be whatever the people in front of her are. Talk about a chameleon!

I've been labeled knowledgeable by those who have taken the time to inquire about me.

I've been labeled naive.

I've been labeled dangerous, for believing that a woman has the ability to birth safely without any sort of "professional" around.

I've been labeled a smart ass. I don't mind that one so much. ;)

I've been labeled as passionate.

And on rare occasions, I have been labeled as life changing. Sometimes, my beliefs and opinions and passion have been able to make a difference in someone's life. It's quite an honor to be told this!

Do I flip flop because I can often see a point to two sides? I don't think so. I think this makes me a contemplative individual. For example, as I already said, I am staunchly pro-life. I don't think that there are any good reasons for aborting a baby. And I've heard all of the arguments, so don't think that this is an open invitation for an abortion debate. It isn't. However, I am actually NOT for deeming the baby to be an individual with rights of it's own in the womb. Why, you may ask?

Laura Pemberton. She is a mother of 8 in Florida. In her last pregnancy, which was a VBAC, she had decided on a home birth. During labor she felt dehydrated and went into the hospital for an IV ( I'll leave comments about this to myself ), and once there was refused treatment unless she consented to a cesarean. She was told that if she didn't sign consent, that a court order would be started. So she fled out of the back of the hospital at 7cm, to go back home.

She resumed a labor pattern at home. Not long after returning, she had the local sheriff and state attorney in her bedroom. They had court orders for a cesarean. They forced her onto a stretcher, and into an ambulance. She pleaded and screamed. She was 9cm and was able to feel her baby's head when they cut her open.

Why did they do this? They deemed that she was acting in negligence, and that she was violating her baby's rights to a safe birth.

The government tells us that they deem it negligent to birth our children at home. They tell us that it is negligent to teach our children at home. They tell us that it is negligent to refuse vaccinations. They tell us that it is negligent and abusive to spank our children on the bottom when they misbehave. Most families don't stand for their homeschooling rights to be taken away. Most families don't stand for their disciplinary rights to be taken away. Why is this a lesser issue?

So for the first time in my staunchly pro-life life...I can agree with the pro-choice side. I am a VBAC mom. What if someone had gotten a hair up their butt, and had decided that I was being negligent with Megan, and had strapped me down and cut her out of my body? When is it up to the government to decide that it is their job to tell us what we can and cannot do with our families? And that's such a sticky statement, because I don't believe in true abuse being ignored. Birthing at home, homeschooling, spanking children on the butt....these are not abuses.

And in all of this...the once Republican me ( because of my parents ), really opposes McCain and Palin in the White House. I am dumbfounded over the information that keeps coming out about Palin. Most recently, the information that she cut funding on Rape Kits being available at no cost to rape victims, because it includes emergency contraceptive. And on the flip side of that, she hunts ( for sport, not survival, obviously ) wolves and bears from planes. So she can be pro-life when it comes to babies ... to the point where she will not fund help for rape victims ... but she can murder helpless animals from a plane. So incredibly noble. :-/

I don't know what I am politically. I'm really not keen on labels for this either. But boy I wish that Ron Paul had stayed in the race! LOL

So there ya go. Political and personal rants all in one blog. :phew:!