Readers: We want you to share your story! In partnership with Raising Women's Voices, an advocacy organization working on behalf of women's health care reform, RH Reality Check is collecting real life stories that reflect how the health care system has impacted real women's lives. We want to hear from you! Share your stories in the comments section of this post and we hope you'll allow RWV to contact you should they wish to use your story in their advocacy efforts. By commenting, you are giving permission to be contacted by RWV.

Pregnancy. Birth control. Aging. Disability. Cancer. Sexuality education.

There are many arenas in which health care is essential to our lives. These are, of course, policy issues. The bills and acts that come before Congress on health care issues are directly connected with women's lives. You see a lot of policy analysis on RH Reality Check precisely because policies affect whether we can get the care we need when and how we need it.

As important as policy analysis, however, are the stories of real women and their families that demonstrate why we need to ensure that everyone has access to quality, affordable healthcare. These voices are critical to the work of Raising Women's Voices for the Healthcare We Need, a partnership between the Avery Institute for Social Change, The MergerWatch Project and The National Women's Health Network. Our policy analyses are based on the stories of diverse groups of women, and are stronger and deeper as a result.

Now RWV is partnering with RH Reality Check to raise your voices. We offer you this space to tell us about your experiences of healthcare. Tell us the good, the bad and the ugly. We depend on you. Your stories have and will continue to enrich our advocacy efforts.

The Question: We have heard for weeks about Sarah Palin's exceptional delivery of her son Trig. As a governor of Alaska, Palin had access to comprehensive health care and many resources and options about how to handle her pregnancy and childbirth. Before, during and after the birth of her son she received medical care and attention that met her diverse needs. Have you all had similar pregnancy and childbirth experiences? Or have you encountered obstacles? What were those obstacles? Could you choose your provider, and type of care? Were you able to take maternity when and how you needed? Tell us. We have a suspicion that there are many different types of stories out there and we think policy makers should hear them.

Here are some stories RWV has already gathered.

A woman from Texas recalls her son's birth:

When I had my son - I had him in Houston - my doctor was a female but had been trained by a very male dominated organization. I had a doctor's appointment because my son was late, he didn't want to come out. I had a doctor's appointment on my due date and she said, "You have an appointment for an induction tomorrow." I said, "No, I don't." And she said, "Yes. You do." ... She said this despite the reccomentdation of her own academy that said inductions were to occurr two weeks after the due date. No one told me [about my appointment], no one got my permission to schedule it. I went to the doctor and told her that if she wasn't going to do it my way that I was going to find someone else to do it... I got told that it was HER responsibility to make sure my child came out okay. And I explained to her that it wasn't her responsibility, he was my responsibility. And that I had spent more time with the nurses than I had with my own doctor... The problem was that I knew she dealt with a lot of low income women, I wasn't exactly high income, but it was the perception that we're not educated enough to understand what's going on with us, so we shold just do what the doctors say. And I think there's a really big misperception that low income people have no idea about their choices and what rights they have. I think sometimes they just get walked over.

A young graduate student tells her story:

I wanted a midwife or a doula for a homebirth. A homebirth nurse was covered by my insurance but not a midwife, and was only covered with a doctor's permission. My insurance provider didn't know what a doula was! I was so frustrated. I wanted the nurse I knew and wanted, not one that was randomly assigned to me. And I needed to ask just the right questions to get the information I needed. The process was so confusing and I didn't receive all by birthing options up front. The options that were told to me were always the ones that made the hospitals some money. Eventually, I wound up going to a birthing center and having a doula, which I payed for myself. This was not my ideal option but was the closest I could get to what I wanted.

Let's raise women's voices for the health care we need. Share your stories - short or long in the comment section. We want to hear from you! While this week our post focuses on pregnancy and childbirth stories, we welcome any health care stories you want to share.