Happy Mother's Day!

Young women from the Urban Assembly School for Law and Justice in New York City came down to the Center for Reproductive Rights offices to talk about how their moms inspired them on reproductive rights and other issues. It's a super sweet video, made me all schmoopy.

My Mom is an Inspiration from Center for Reproductive Rights on Vimeo.

Funnily enough, today is also the 50th anniversary of when the FDA approved the birth control pill to be sold as contraception. (I do believe it's the first FDA-approved drug that did anything besides treat disease.) This would seem to be an ironic coincidence, except as Elaine Tyler May notes in her book America and the Pill, for the first decade plus of its existence, the pill was mainly used by married women (mostly mothers), who used it to stop having children, not delay motherhood or avoid it altogether. The Loretta Lynn song "The Pill" really speaks to this reality.

Most Mother's Day observances neglect remembering that mothers are more than mothers, but are whole people with diverse needs and desires. Transcripts for both the Mother's Day video and "The Pill" under the fold. Mother's Day video:

On Mother's Day, we celebrate a world in which all women have choicesÉ and we're not alone.

Students from the Urban Assembly School for Law & Justice visited the Center and shared their thoughts.

Tornelle: My Mom has talked to me about: do I want to have a child? When is the right time?

Bianca: I talk to her about HIV/AIDs and if it's okay for me to get birth control, just in case anything happens.

Daniela: Yeah, I think my Mom's a feminist.

Carlene: She believes that everybody has a choice, and everybody can make their own decisions.

Bianca: She had a child, her first child - my sister Rosa - when she was seventeen. So she had a lot of experience and doesn't want me to go through the same thing.

Deborah: I think I'm pro-choice because it should -- you should have that option no matter the circumstance.

Daniela: I have become pro-choice.

Ekugbe: You should have the choice to choose whether or not you're ready for a baby.

Ashley: My mother has spoken to me about being pro-choice.

Deborah: I'm going to thank my Mother on this Mother's Day for keeping an open mind.

Bianca: She's definitely an inspiration.

Ashley: I want to thank my Mom for everything.

Tornelle: Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

The Center for Reproductive Rights thanks moms everywhere for raising a generation that cares about choice.

Share this message with someone you care about today.

https://reproductiverights.org

"The Pill":

You wined me and dined me

When I was your girl

Promised if I'd be your wife

You'd show me the world

But all I've seen of this old world

Is a bed and a doctor bill

I'm tearin' down your brooder house

'Cause now I've got the pill

All these years I've stayed at home

While you had all your fun

And every year thats gone by

Another babys come

There's a gonna be some changes made

Right here on nursery hill

You've set this chicken your last time

'Cause now I've got the pill

This old maternity dress I've got

Is goin' in the garbage

The clothes I'm wearin' from now on

Won't take up so much yardage

Miniskirts, hot pants and a few little fancy frills

Yeah I'm makin' up for all those years

Since I've got the pill

I'm tired of all your crowin'

How you and your hens play

While holdin' a couple in my arms

Another's on the way

This chicken's done tore up her nest

And I'm ready to make a deal

And ya can't afford to turn it down

'Cause you know I've got the pill

This incubator is overused

Because you've kept it filled

The feelin' good comes easy now

Since I've got the pill

It's gettin' dark it's roostin' time

Tonight's too good to be real

Oh but daddy don't you worry none

'Cause mama's got the pill

Oh daddy don't you worry none

'Cause mama's got the pill