As the campus swarmed with people outside during the Willamette Valley Folk Festival this past weekend, a smaller, more serious event was taking place indoors.
Students for Choice presented “Body of Choice: Educating Each Other About Reproductive Freedoms,” a conference aimed at clarifying what “pro-choice” means.
“Pro-choice means that a woman has a right to have safe sex, which means being able to use contraceptives, and the right to decide whether or not to have an abortion,” said Anna Peterson, who helped organize the conference through the Women’s Center.
Several different events were held during the three-day period, including a keynote address, workshops, a movie and a panel discussion. Cathy Pace, a former clinic organizer, started the conference Friday by delivering a keynote address.
State Rep. Vicki Walker participated in the conference in a lecture Saturday regarding elections and legislation issues associated with the pro-choice movement.
A panel held Saturday seemed to agree that pro-choice means more than pro-abortion, which many said was a common misconception. The movement doesn’t revolve around the issue of abortion; rather, it supports having access to contraception, a comprehensive sex education and the option of abortion or adoption said Crystal Plati, field director for Choice USA.
Choice USA is a national organization that researches, educates and mobilizes pro-choice activists and leaders.
“It’s for women to be their own moral agents and to control their destinies and have a child when they want to,” said Rebecca Zani, outreach and education coordinator for All Women’s Health Service.
While the greatest misconception pointed out at the conference was by far that pro-choice equals pro-abortion, several panelists also mentioned that some people are not educated enough about the issues and are susceptible to making uninformed judgments.
“Before pregnancy occurs, there’s so many choices that need to be made,” said Renne DeLaurentis, public affairs fund-raising associate with Planned Parenthood. “It’d be really helpful if people understood that.”
Discussion eventually led to what could be done to improve the movement. Several panelists said the “anti-choice” segment has influenced many people into believing the pro-choice movement is something it is not. As a result, education of the public stood out as one of the major goals.
“We have quite a lot of work to do in terms of organizing young people,” Plati said. “Anti-choice has been really successful in defining our movement for us.”
She added that people between the ages of 15 and 20 are more likely to be “anti-choice” than any other generation before them. In addition, when polled, most in that age group thought the majority of abortions occurred in the third trimester of pregnancy, which Plati said is simply untrue.
People of later ages, however, are not exempt from the need to be taught, DeLaurentis said. People of her generation, she said, are complacent when it comes to the issue of contraception and they don’t realize that just because it’s here now doesn’t mean it’s going to stay.
The panelists shared their individual levels of involvement within the pro-choice movement and the experiences that led them there.
In addition to Walker’s presentation, social change advocate Teri Gutierrez spoke about international reproductive issues. A third workshop on clinic escort training was postponed.
Sunday’s wrap-up included a movie about a woman who died while having an abortion. The conference concluded with a Speak Out during which students were invited to share their own thoughts about the pro-choice movement.