40 My Body, My Choice Quotes From Different Perspectives
These ‘my body, my choice’ quotes are from different perspectives and may help you see things in a new light.
Were there any quotes that resonated with you?
Share your thoughts with us in the comment section below.
What are the benefits of reading these ‘my body, my choice’ quotes?
This phrase has long been a rallying cry for feminists and people who support the right for women to make their own healthcare choices.
Reading through these ‘my body, my choice’ quotes will:
- offer the perspective of feminists on why this phrase matters
- explain, through bible verses, why some people believe their body is not actually theirs
- show why this term doesn’t work with healthcare decisions that affect everyone around you
This topic can be divisive, and our goal is to present information that can offer insight in a safe place.
You can read these quotes and ponder their meaning without feeling like you need to comment on that person’s post you haven’t seen since high school.
Maybe some of these quotes will help you craft responses that get other people to consider new information too!
Insightful my body, my choice quotes
These quotes directly relate to body parts, sense of self, and body autonomy. They are quotes that clearly define the words “my body, my choice.”
1. “I have a brain and a uterus, and I use both.” — Patricia Schroeder
2. “The state controlling a woman would mean denying her full autonomy and full equality.” — Ruth Bader Ginsburg
3. “We should be able to have our own choice on what we want to do with our bodies. Period. Hear that SCOTUS?” — Laura Bushwitz
4. “I’m for absolute autonomy of the individual, and an adult, competent woman has absolute autonomy. It’s her choice.” — Jack Kevorkian
5. “I am protecting women’s rights, their human right to decide their futures for themselves, and to live their lives as they see fit.” ― Dr. Willie Parker
6. “No woman should be told she can’t make decisions about her own body. When women’s rights are under attack, we fight back.” — Kamala Harris
7. “No law, no piece of paper that is hundreds of years old, will ever have me believe what is right or wrong about what choices I make with my body. My body, my choice.” — Thalia
8. “My message to women: Do what makes you feel good because there’ll always be someone who thinks you should do it differently. Whether your choices are hits or misses, at least they’re your own.” — Michelle Obama
9. “The mother, or parent, is fully human and should have all her own rights, and those outweigh those of the fetus. If you cannot force her to donate blood to save a life, you should not be able to force her to incubate life.” — Kathryn
10. “We should, at all times, insist that we belong to ourselves and have the agency to make decisions about our own lives. Our voices, whether loud or soft, matter. Our behavior, whether seen as ‘good’ or ‘bad,’ remains our choice.” ― Malebo Sephodi
My body, my choice quotes about abortion or childbirth
These quotes will offer some thoughts about abortion or women’s reproductive rights.
11. “To take choice out of pregnancy is to take the mother out of motherhood.” ― Abhijit Naskar
12. “Abortion is health care. Abortion is freedom. Abortion is bodily autonomy. A country without this human right is not a free country.” — H. R. Bellicosa
13. “Christ, Minna, it’s yours until it makes an appearance in the world. It’s yours in the same way your liver is; you wouldn’t catch me telling you what to do or not do about that.” ― Natasha Pulley
14. “‘I guess I’ll have a baby when Jack gets ready for me to,’ she informed me as though to scorn my idea that women should determine when and under what conditions they would bear children.” ― Gertrude Beasley
15. “I’ve always known what was at stake. That’s why my fight against threats to reproductive freedom, including abortion, has always been unyielding. These decisions should’ve never been left up to the courts. These rights must be secured and protected beyond elections.” — Rep. Renitta Shannon
16. “You can’t make a case against abortion by applying a general principle about everybody’s human rights; you have to show exactly the opposite — that the relationship between fetus and pregnant woman is an exception, one that justifies depriving women of their right to bodily integrity.” — Ellen Willis
17. “Why must the woman apologize for not having a baby just because she happened to get pregnant? It’s as if we think motherhood is the default setting for a woman’s life from first period to menopause, and she needs a note from God not to say yes to every zygote that knocks on her door.” ― Katha Pollitt
18. “We are on the precipice of the end of Roe and the beginning of a period of Republican legislation of women’s bodies, but this change comes steeped in irony. The same group that wants to make it impossible for you to end your pregnancy is furiously insistent that showing proof of vaccination should be illegal.” — Molly Jong-Fast
19. “Access to legal, and therefore safe, abortions means that people can have agency and authority over their own bodies. Reversing Roe v. Wade is essentially saying that an embryo or fetus is more valuable than the physical and mental health of the mother (and that the mother isn’t smart enough to make that decision on her own).” — Sandy J. Green
20. “Many of us were the unplanned children of talented, creative women whose lives had been changed by unplanned and unwanted pregnancies. We witnessed their bitterness, their rage, their disappointment with their lot in life, and we were clear that there could be no genuine sexual liberation for women and men without better, safer contraceptives, without the right to a safe, legal abortion.” ― Bell Hooks
My body, my choice quotes from the feminist perspective
My body, my choice has become a feminist slogan. These quotes are from the perspective that defines the movement.
21. “Feminism is the radical notion that women are human beings.” ― Cheris Kramarae
22. “I do not wish women to have power over men, but over themselves.” — Mary Shelley
23. “Women are humans, we are full humans, and we need to be treated like full humans.” — Laura Bushwitz
24. “I believe the rights of women and girls is the unfinished business of the 21st Century.” — Hillary Clinton
25. “I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.” — Charlotte Bronte
26. “My idea of feminism is self-determination, and it’s very open-ended: every woman has the right to become herself and do whatever she needs to do.” — Ani DiFranco
27. “I myself have never been able to find out precisely what a feminist is. I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat.” — Rebecca West
28. “It’s an amusing idea to some, this feminism thing – this audacious notion that women should be able to move through the world as freely, and enjoy the same inalienable rights and bodily autonomy, as men. At least, that’s the impression given when feminism and feminists are all too often the targets of lazy humor.” — Roxane Gay
29. “Patriarchy is not men. Patriarchy is a system in which both women and men participate. It privileges, inter alia, the interests of boys and men over the bodily integrity, autonomy, and dignity of girls and women. It is subtle, insidious, and never more dangerous than when women passionately deny that they themselves are engaging in it.” — Ashley Judd
30. “The feminist position on abortion is a woman’s right to *choose*, and feminists would defend to the hilt the right of any woman *not* to have an abortion irrespective of the grounds she gave for making this choice. The anti-abortion position is, in fact, an anti-choice position, imposing, or attempting to impose, particular beliefs on all women.” ― Michèle Barrett
My body, my choice quotes to consider
These quotes will get you thinking and maybe have you considering something you hadn’t realized.
31. “Even our physical liberties are rightly ordered to the common good of the community when necessary.” — Adrian Vermeule
33. “Till every woman obtains their right to choice, none of us will sit quiet in compliant apathy. Every time the cradle of justice becomes criminal, it falls upon us civilians to be justice incorruptible.” ― Abhijit Naskar
32. “As a woman, I owe the world nothing in terms of my fertility. I am a human being and, mother or not, as a person, it is my basic human right to control, plan, and choose the size of my family. I wish this right for all people.” ― Various
34. “None of this is without risk of death or damage or trauma, including psychological trauma. To force girls and women to undergo all this against their will is to annihilate their humanity. When they undertake it by choice, we should all be grateful.” ― Katha Pollitt
35. “We are as entitled as men to prioritize ourselves and our desires, and we are as capable as men of knowing what’s best for us. Why is everyone so pathologically terrified of selfish women? The word is thrown around like an insult as if the worst thing a woman could possibly do (aside from being fat, having sex with whomever she pleases and whenever, swearing, having an abortion, drinking alcohol, standing up for herself, and being a working mother) is to decide that her life matters.” — Clementine Ford
My body, my choice quotes from the bible
These quotes from the bible offer the perspective of many “pro-lifers” who cite biblical reasons that “my body, my choice” doesn’t work.
36. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” — Jeremiah 1:5
37. “And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.” — Romans 8:23
38. “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” — 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
39. “For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God.” — 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5
40. “Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.” — Psalm 127:3-5
Thanks for taking the time to read these quotes
We know this is a hot-button issue for nearly everyone.
You might have vastly different ideas about this topic than the people you love the most.
Hopefully, you found something here that stirred your heart one way or the other and will help you express your opinion in a kind and respectful manner.
Then maybe, we could all hear each other a little better!
What’s your biggest takeaway from these my body, my choice quotes and sayings?
Share your thoughts with us in the comment section below.
