I had my annual mammogram today. I could write about that and how I think my clavicle might be cracked from the violent nature of that procedure, but I won't. Stay on track, Kristi!

I'm feeling compelled to talk about something else. I was handed the clipboard in the waiting room this morning just like every time. Rather than reading each paragraph, I, like always, looked for every line that required my signature. I filled out the family history section and any other information that was required.

A bubbly brunette directed me to the dressing room where I was about to slip into my drab gown when I was interrupted. When did you say your last cycle was?, she asked. I looked at the clipboard and told her that it was somewhere around the day I had written down. She informed me that I'd have to take a pregnancy test if that was the correct day. Apparently if your last cycle started more than ten days ago you have to take one.

I quickly picked up my phone to look at my calendar figuring I needed to wrack my brain to come up with the right day. I'm not sure when this became the standard (I don't remember being asked to take one before.) I'm assuming it's about the danger of radiation. It's not a bad thing. I'm all for using caution when it comes to the possibility of harming a life that might be growing inside me or someone else.

All this is on the heels of another appointment yesterday. I took my teenage daughter to the dermatologist. He suggested a medication he was certain would help with her skin issues. He then drew his leg up on his opposite knee and rolled his chair back in the corner to start a spiel I could tell he'd given numerous times.

He informed us that for her to be on this skin medication she'd have to take a pregnancy test. The medication is known to cause birth defects. I get it. We're protecting a potential pregnancy.

I'm glad.

What I couldn't get off my mind as the technician today told me a dozen times to relax my arm was the fact that it would appear that the law and the medical profession care about babies.

You don’t have the “choice” when it comes to whether or not you want to take the pregnancy test if you want to participate in these health options.

In these cases it isn't about your body. It's about a body that may be growing inside you; a body that (apparently) is worth protecting.

They mandate that you take a pregnancy test based on the fact that you might be pregnant and that the procedure/medication might hurt the baby.

Only I don't think such lengths are taken simply because we value a baby's health. I would suggest that doctors and facilities are protecting themselves from responsibility for a potential birth defect stemming from their medical (mal)practice. Our laws don't suggest that we really care that much about babies. We care about protecting our skin.

Our laws don't give me the idea that babies are important, well some babies anyway. We care more about our rights to our bodies. A baby is only a baby if the mother wants it to be. Otherwise it's a clump or cells, or as I saw someone write the other day, a pea that will turn into a kid.

We've presently decided as a society that we create our own truth. As if the truth isn't something that's constant. I read a meme today that said, I stand in my truth. Truth isn't wishy washy and it isn't negotiable.

I hate abortion with every fiber of my being. God's truth, the only truth, says, my frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place...(Psalm 139:15). The truth is, an unborn life is a life that is already made.

The thought of social media wars stresses us. The idea that someone might see us in more of a negative light for being open about things like abortion brings anxiety. It's easier just to not say anything.

A verse I read in 1 Peter this past week reminded me that love considers when to speak.

...If anyone speaks, let it be as one who speaks God's words... 1 Peter 4:11

I believe this is a truth worth speaking up.

This isn't about my truth and it isn't about yours. This isn't about that common claim, it's my body. For those of us who are believers we know that it isn't honestly only our body. Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own...

1 Corinthians 6:19

All life is precious. We're under the impression that we can do what we want with it.

That doesn't change the truth.