I’ve heard quite a few people say that this political season has been the most “divisive in history.” Now, considering that I am in my late 30s, I am sure there is a certain amount of hyperbole in that statement, but I get what they are saying. These days it’s hard not to see or hear someone’s political position, especially if you are involved in social media… for better or for worse.
I have heard from so many people who have had friends, family and acquaintances “unfriend” them because their views differ, and I’m happy to say that I’m not one of them. In fact, this political climate has actually drawn me closer to a friend… a friend who happens to be ardently pro-choice.
Let’s rewind.
It’s the late 90s and I’m jamming out to Third Eye Blind, Uncle Kracker, and Cher at the University of Wisconsin when I first met Kim*. We were RAs together and even then, Kim was a firebrand and an ardent advocate of the oppressed. I was muddling my way through where I fit in politically and I always admired how she knew what she believed and was not afraid to show it.
We’d enjoy evenings together drinking (bad) red wine and munching on popcorn and later, hanging out on the town. I was a bridesmaid in her wedding and she would have been in mine (had I not eloped). In 2007, not long after I had my first child, I remember posting on Facebook something about my pro-life stance. I remember Kim commenting something like, “It really bothers me when women become pro-life after they have kids” and it was then that I shared with Kim that I had always been pro-life… I had just been afraid to tell her. You see, since Kim had always been ardently pro-choice, I was sure our friendship was done.
I was wrong.
It would have been so easy for the two of us to end our friendship because now she knew we differed on this HUGE topic, but Kim and I never did anything the easy way. To this day, she is the one person that I can bounce ideas off of, share random “string of consciousness” thoughts with, and debate the issues at hand. I know that she accepts me for who I am, not for who she wants me to be.
This political season has brought us closer together because of the current issues in our country. Being pro-life is so much more than just getting a woman through her pregnancy. She knows that I care about all life issues: immigrants, refugees, prisoners, the sick, the old, the poor, minorities, and the oppressed. I care about maternity leave, child care access, and true reproductive healthcare (not just “taking care of a problem”). She’s had a chance to see that the pro-life movement can be so much more than just helping a baby arrive.
In a political season that is finding pro-life and pro-choice women at odds, I am so happy to reach across the aisle and hug and bond with my friend, over life.