The amount of freedom we as American citizens enjoy in our lives has always been a source of pride for me — I feel the United States is a great nation only because it places a high value on our “inalienable right” to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

But, seeing as how our numerous freedoms have been the only reason I have ever thought America to be so grand, I’m not sure if I should still be proud of our country or more rightly disgusted with it when these freedoms are threatened.

Right now, experiencing a threat to our freedom could pertain to lots of things going on in the world today, but I want to concentrate on one particular issue that has been bothering me.

Lately, I’ve noticed a frightening trend of backlash at women, specifically on our right to make our own choices regarding reproduction. This isn’t limited to Bush’s partial-birth abortion ban, although the “Kodak” moment when it was signed into law was enough to push me over the edge itself.

Why? Because, in the photo op, Bush was surrounded by six smiling men, zero women and a hell of a lot of self-righteous, “I know what’s better for you than you do” rhetoric.

This is also not limited to other measures Bush has taken to restrict women’s access to and information about abortions, birth control and sexual health since he took office. In his very first month, Bush resurrected the Global Gag Rule, ending U.S. aid to international family planning programs whose services included — but did not use U.S. funds for — informing women of legal abortion options and providing safe and legal abortion services.

In June 2002, wording was altered on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and National Institute for Health (NIH) Web sites, according to the Detroit Free Press. This refuted volumes of evidence previously available on the sites regarding findings that abortions do not increase breast cancer risks and that condoms do protect against HIV.

And we’re not anywhere near the end of the list.

The full realization of my fears has come with recent letters regarding abortion in our very own newspaper, written by men attending our university. These letters were quite forceful in their absolute claims of father’s rights and insisted women have a “responsibility” to carry through with pregnancies created through consensual acts.

However, both of these work to undermine a woman’s autonomy of body and right to make her own decisions.

This isn’t to denigrate the importance of fathers or their contribution to their children’s lives. Fathers do have rights to their children, but giving men absolute power of paternity when the child is located inside a woman’s body effectively denies women bodily autonomy. Fully informed decisions on abortion and adoption should definitely be discussed between the mother and father before any steps are taken, but ultimately left up to the woman, in whose body the pregnancy will develop, to decide.

The same goes for our “responsibility” to carry out pregnancies. When people have consensual sex, it would follow both parties are responsible for its outcomes. When a pregnancy occurs, it’s too easy to say the mother should be obligated to “deal with the consequences” and have the child. How do we propose to offer an equal, nine-month-long responsibility of bearing life to the male? Should we allow exemptions for couples who tried to prevent pregnancy through birth control?

The ultimate question is: Should we even question a woman’s decision at all? It seems people are beginning to think women don’t have enough sense to make sound decisions about their pregnancies on their own — that we need legislation and propaganda to keep us in our place as “good mothers.”

But that, my friends, is one huge load of crap.

Women are not vessels created solely for reproduction. We are not sperm receptacles, nor are we indentured servants. We are human beings who were born with the ability to reason and take control of our own destinies. This effectively gives us the facilities to decide for ourselves when we’ll be pregnant and whose children we will bear.

It seems scary and threatening to me that some day I may be forced to bear a child I have no desire to create. I would hope the rest of America would be behind me if I were to decide I wasn’t ready to bring another human life into this world.

Our values of “liberty and justice for all” don’t allow for obligatory motherhood.