On women and trust: A Blog for Choice response

I'm doing something today that I've never done. This year, Michigan Women's Forum is a participant in NARAL Pro-Choice America's "Blog for Choice Day."

To be clear, Michigan Women's Forum is not advocating any particular point of view on the subject of abortion. But I am deeply intrigued by this year's "Blog for Choice Day" topic:

What does "Trust Women" mean to you?

In the context of reproductive choice, "Trust Women" has a very clear meaning, one that resonates with me: Women should be trusted with control over their own bodies, to determine their own medical treatment in consultation with their doctors - and not government. If a pregnancy is unintended, unwanted or has gone terribly, horribly wrong, women - not government - should be trusted to determine which course of action best protects their lives and health.

But in a larger sense, I believe it's time to "Trust Women" across the board. We must trust women to know their own hearts, to act in accordance with their beliefs, no matter what those beliefs might be.


Those who stand in picket lines at abortion clinics (so long as they express themselves appropriately and respect others) have as much right to be trusted as those who walk through them. Those who believe life begins at conception have as much right to be trusted as those who believe life doesn't begin until a child is born. And the same is true for anyone whose beliefs fall somewhere in between those two positions.

As is always the case, trust can be breached, by disrespect or deception or violence. Some people do and say things that make trust impossible. But having ideas or values different from mine does not automatically make a person untrustworthy. So much of the discussion around abortion is stymied by a lack of respect for other points of view and the belief that others are "wrong" or "immoral" in their points of view.

What if we let go of that rope? What would happen if we said, "I trust that all women are right, no matter what they believe."?

I know this isn't a popular point of view, and I've been accused of muddying the issue and equivocating. People like black and white, pro-choice or anti-choice or pro-life or pro-abortion. I've got just one question: How's that working for you?

Today, I am asking you to consider the words "Trust Women." Today, thanks to NARAL and "Blog for Choice," I am speaking my truth.

Trust me.

--Joni Hubred-Golden