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Women's health and the right to control our own bodies shouldn't be an issue of right vs. left or Republican vs. Democrat. After all, women make up half of the population. We have many different political affiliations, ideas about religion, economic statuses, skin colors and bodies.

We are not a monolith of ideas and opinions, contrary to what some politicians and product hucksters might have you believe. But we are all fully autonomous human beings with the same rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Groups such as Pro-Life Wisconsin and Wisconsin Family Action , however, would have us believe that women deserve a one-size-fits-all approach, doled out with a fatherly pat on the head. And they're banking on the newly emboldened Republican majority in the state Legislature to buy into that same notion.

The groups have released a sort of anti-abortion wish list for the new legislative session. They're ramping up a push for a 20-week abortion ban, as well as "conscience laws" that would allow medical personnel to act — or not act — according to their religious or moral beliefs. They'd also like to make "Choose Life" license plates available to the public.

Honestly, I'd be OK with the latter point, so long as it came with the option of a "My Life, My Choice" license plate, too. After all, the whole point of the pro-choice movement is that people should have the right to make and keep their own wish lists, without interference from anyone but their own conscience (and maybe the advice of their physician). We should be seeking to ensure that everyone has equal access to comprehensive and scientifically accurate medical care, regardless of where they live, how much money they make or which medical organizations they happen to have access to.

Right now, we do a pretty terrible job of making sure quality health care is available and accessible to everyone, and an even worse job when it comes to women. Woe especially unto you if you happen to be a woman of color or poor or queer or any combination thereof.

My wish for future legislative sessions and general public consensus is to see a push to provide comprehensive medical care to everyone, and that includes making safe abortion just another standard part of women's health care. I'd like to see an end to the systematic chipping away of my rights by extremist groups. I've already seen friends having to go through an absolute wringer just to obtain good information about their options, let alone to get the care they choose and need. In the end, these delays and barriers cause more stress, waste time and money, and often affect a woman's health and well-being.

I want good services available to everyone, regardless of income level or where one lives in the state. A recent politically fishy-as-heck "audit" by the Inspector General of the Wisconsin Department of Health Services is accusing health care providers in some of the already most underserved parts of our state of overcharging the state for services that include contraceptive care (not abortions), cervical cancer screenings, STI testing and more. No matter that the health care organizations have been following the exact provisions put into place by the state five years ago, or that about 90% of the funding from the state actually comes from federal dollars. And no matter that Gov. Scott Walker has a long history of attempting to strip funding and access to birth control.

Republicans, Democrats and third parties should all be able to agree that we should always be seeking the best methods for keeping our fellow citizens healthy. Preventative care, comprehensive and inclusive sexual education and quality family planning have proven, time and again, to save communities money, time and stress — communities made up of those very political representatives, their families and their friends.

All children should be wanted. All women should have full rights to decide their own destinies. So why not work together to make that happen? Why make it a partisan issue? No one benefits from that, least of all women and children.

While we work on getting accurate information to the public and lobbying our representatives, I can only hope the extremist anti-choice groups and their professional busybodies — such as the ubiquitous Julaine Appling — find new, more productive and compassionate hobbies.

Appling, like others involved with WFA and PLW, seems to be laboring under the misguided and egotistical notion that her personal wish list should apply to everyone, consequences be damned. But like with the recent victory for same-sex marriage in Wisconsin where we've simply moved to ensure equal rights for everyone, no one is forcing Appling to marry a woman. Likewise, no one is forcing anyone to get an abortion.

And that is, as it should be, her choice.

Emily Mills is a freelance writer who lives in Madison. Twitter: @millbot; Email: emily.mills@outlook.com