Hello friends!  It’s a whirlwind week!  You may have heard, this weekend is the annual Women’s March, there are marches and events in cities across America.  This year, due to the egregious dispensing of human rights by the state legislature in TX, essentially turning abortion into a criminal enterprise, many of these Women’s Marches are lifting up reproductive rights, and where I live in the Dena, that is indeed the case.  This Saturday’s march is being sponsored by Planned Parenthood of Pasadena, and since they are an organization that focuses on wellness, they had the creative idea to have a caravan, instead of a march.  A line of cars will congregate at the Rose Bowl at 9:30, get decorated, then snake through key parts of the city, raising awareness that we will not stand for the abrogation of basic human rights, such as the freedom to choose when to have a child.

Please consider, that if women cannot decide this, they are cast to the kitchen, barefoot and pregnant, unable to become educated and work for their own living.  My friends, this is way, way bigger than abortion – it’s about ensuring that our sisters and daughters can stand on their own two feet, making conscious decisions about their lives, without the interference of any patriarchal prescriptions.  It is healthy for all people when all women and girls have complete jurisdiction over their own bodies.   

I’m quite honored that I will be co-hosting the event live on my podcast, POP! Talk, along with Ellen Snortland, longtime columnist for the Pasadena Weekly.  I’m thankful that Radio Jornalera, that’s Day Laborer Radio, will be filming and live-streaming from their Facebook page this special 2.5 hours episode.  There is an amazing line-up of speakers that Planned Parenthood has put together, including US Rep. Judy Chu, and state Rep. Anthony Portantino.  My colleague UU minister Rev. KC Slack is also there to represent liberal faith, along with the Rector of All Saints Episcopal Church.  I am excited to hear what Adrienne Spires of Black Women for Wellness has to say, as well as Sheri Bonner of Planned Parenthood, just to name a few from this auspicious line-up. 

So come on down to the Rosebowl at 9:30 this Saturday morning, and you can hear the POP Talk broadcast live-streaming in your cars, from Radio Jornalera’s Facebook page. 

Remember, this isn’t just a women’s rights issue.  Feminism is good for everybody, because nobody really wants to live in a Handmaid’s Tale kind of world, or drive on Fury Road ala Mad Max.  When women’s reproductive rights are honored, we are more likely to honor the whole of humanity, and the natural world that makes all life possible.  So gentle-people, turn off your football and rev up your cars . . . demonstrate that you understand what is at stake not just for women and girls, but also young men who become fathers, and also don’t want to bring children in this world before they are ready. 

Hope are all enjoying your week . . . . Ciao and peace out!

-Rev. Hannah