Not a very good design. Considering the folds of the shirt and the lettering abortion almost looks like abolition.

I would never be proud to shout my abortion and can't imagine another woman who would be, so props to them I guess for having no shame about it

@2: Women should't feel shame for making difficult choices.

@2 have you had one? Anonymously speaking, why would you rather not talk about it, if you saw a reason to?

That's cool of the Stranger to recognize this award. Especially since you once accused SYA of hollow scenester activism that did nothing but preach to the choir. It takes a lot of guts to jump on a bandwagon.

Phoebe,

I agree with you completely.

I wish to state a couple of things. One, I am a male, both in terms of gender identity and chromosomes. Two, I have no idea what it must be like to be a woman in this incredibly sexist and misogynistic country. However, I'm willing to guess that for a majority of women, it must really suck.

From my standpoint, there is only one defensible position- total and complete equality for all Americans regardless of gender or biological sex, including complete control over your own bodies and biological decisions. This includes reproduction. Abortion should not only be legal, it should be free of charge, safe, available everywhere and easy to access. So should genetic counselling, STI testing, access to PreP, contraception and gynecological examinations.

It strikes me as barbaric that we are still having a debate over whether women should be allowed to control their own lives. First of all, what's this 'allowed' business, anyway? What right does anyone have to 'allow' or deny anyone? You don't need my permission. You shouldn't need the government's. It's your body. Do whatever you want with it.

One day, future generations at going to look back at where we are today and feel a sense of stunned amazement at just how backward we are as a culture. Why are we still arguing over whether Black people can vote, gay people can marry, or women can get an abortion? It all underlies a fundamental idea at the core of those who oppose these basic rights- they really don't believe that we're all equal. Those who cling to this bizarre idea that women are worth less than men perpetuate the idea that women should be ashamed of their bodies or their reproductive decisions. That's the root of it.

@7: So you're saying that a rapists who go around raping women then turn into great nurturing fathers contributing to their offspring's college fund?

@5: the Stranger can congratulate a local company for getting the most votes from their friends in an online voting contest (I'm friends with a few folks at Civilization--I saw how they were begging for votes every few days on fbook) and SYA can still be hollow scenester activism that does nothing but preach to the choir. It doesn't have to be one or the other!

Life is probably the only phenomenon that matters, if any phenomena matter, but that last proposition is doubtful enough in itself that I can't get too worked up about "killing a living being." Eating food kills a living being; unless you were one of the first life forms, or one of the organisms that lives along the rims of underwater volcanoes, anything your body recognizes as food is, or was somewhat recently, alive.

As social mammals, it's probably important that we recognize human life as uniquely deserving of our protection, but we already stratify the way we apply that, by way of such beloved institutions as war or capital punishment. The other rights that flow organically from the valuation of life are not even applied equally and evenly to all "born" beings; rights that we claim belong to all "individuals" almost invariably apply exclusively to adults (and, in some cases, only to adults of means, and in others, only to white, heterosexual, cis men).

I don't have a problem with ending a human life (granting arguendo that abortion does so) when that being is not only dependent on the mother as a member of the household, but as an inhabitant of her body. Honoring the autonomy of the cognitively functioning, legally competent being's body strikes me as a more direct corollary to the valuation of human life than deferring to the sanctity of the pre-born homo sapien's right to a willing host. I could be receptive to arguments in the other direction, but they would have to me more compelling than some facile "Abortion Kills" sloganeering, or appeals to how future generations will look at me. Future generations may look askance at my eating meat, as well; I'll never know because I probably won't be here to see it. So I'll take my slab of possibly sentient mammal (if sentience is even a thing) medium rare, and the women in my life legally empowered to determine who or what gets to take up residence in the womb.

@11: I'm feeling fine, thank you.

Well, at least you make an exception for rape and incest.

So you're saying that a young teenage girl, let's say, who terminates a pregnancy is depraved for not going through the pregnancy and giving the baby up for a adoption. Yes or No?

@12 I'm sure your friends at Civilization would be thrilled to know that you think they're "begging" or that they designed something cool but ultimately pointless.

Sure, the Stranger could have written a "locals celebrated for largely empty accomplishment" post. That seems to be what you're after here. It also would have been ridiculously awkward. That said, they went out of their way to praise SYA, which is rich given some of what they've said about it in the past.

I bet good money #7 has a hard time finding a girlfriend. im just guessing though.

@17: Ok, let's call it "hustling" for votes then. It's a very pretty website and yay for Civilization, but you can't tell me that their award didn't come down to who got more of their friends voting for them in an online contest.

@19 The Webbys are kind of a thing. I don't think this one was swung by Civilization'a FB pleas.

@15 I do vehemently support all these things. Colorado had a privately funded program that provided teenage girls with free IUDs that cut teenage pregnancy and abortion rates drastically. Huge success, so of course they aren't going to continue doing it. And I believe that a just and virtuous society ought to provide comprehensive health care from prenatal to hospice. I'll go further: I am firmly anti-war, a pacifist, despite having served in the Army in my younger years. I believe that as a developed country we not only have an obligation to meet the needs of our own citizens, but also to work to address issues of poverty around the world. I do privilege human life above that of other organisms. I'm an environmentalist first and foremost because of the effects on human life.

But I have to admit I have a problem with abortion. I don't express it much because I feel doubly unqualified to comment as a gay man; I really cannot have any personal stake in the issue. I suppose in my ideal world, I would want women who do get pregnant to have all of the support and love they need feel comfortable making a choice not to get an abortion, but that's not the world we live in, as Lindy West's story makes clear.

But the thought does occur that in an alternate universe where Ms. West had chosen not to have an abortion, her child would have been turning 7 this year and probably well-settled into first grade, where he or she might have been doing projects on life in other countries or learning addition and subtraction or being some other kid's best friend for life, like my nephew is now, like I did in first grade.

That seven year old child would not have been some widget to be replaced at a more opportune time. That seven year old would have been unique, never before seen in this world and never to be seen again.

That strikes me as a real loss for us all, including a loss for Ms. West, and one that pro-choice advocates seem reluctant to address.

@21: yeeaaahhhh, but the general public is not usually voting on the Oscars, Emmys, Grammys, etc. This is more the equivalent of a People's Choice Award.