Students for Choice will commemorate the 30th anniversary for Roe v. Wade with “Cake and Condoms” today at 11:30 a.m. in the EMU Fishbowl. The 1973 court decision gave women a federal right to voluntarily terminate pregnancies.
According to Students for Choice Director Lauren Manes, the cake is meant to celebrate women’s right to choose. She said it’s important for young women to recognize the significance of Roe v. Wade.
“At this point in time, a lot of people are taking it for granted, especially our generation,” Manes said. “We don’t know what it’s like not to have it,” she said, adding that people also need to take into consideration the crude abortions performed illegally before the Roe v. Wade decision.
Manes added there are many misconceptions about Roe v. Wade, including the idea that abortion is used as a primary source of contraception.
“It mystifies me that someone would think that,” Manes said.
“It’s a painful choice, emotionally and physically.”
She said her group does not focus solely on abortion, but also on healthy reproductive choices.
The group, in collaboration with others in the Pro-Choice Coalition, has organized another commemoration ceremony for 6 p.m. at the Wild Duck, located at 169 W. Sixth Street. Several speakers will speak in honor of Roe v. Wade, including State Superintendent of Public Instruction Susan Castillo and ASUO President Rachel Pilliod, who will talk about the future of the Roe decision. Director of the University’s Center for the Study of Women in Society Sandra Morgen will talk about reproductive health issues in the international scene.
The free event will also feature music from local band Wish and food, as well. The Oregon Bus project will transport people from campus to the venue at 5:30 p.m. today.
Like Manes, Planned Parenthood’s Public Affairs Director Kitty Piercy said it is imperative to recognize this anniversary.
“I am celebrating it because I believe that Roe, along with women’s right to vote and access to contraception, is one of the most important things that has happened to fully enfranchise women and give them power over their lives,” she said.
Piercy added it was a “threatening time” for the law, especially with the current administration in place. She said the Bush government has been appointing officials who push for legislation to restrict or overturn Roe. Pro-choice activists are especially worried that as two supreme court justices retire this year, the administration may appoint justices who are anti-abortion.
“We ought to remember the thousands of women who died (from illegal abortions) in the years before Roe,” she said. “We no longer have those deaths, and that’s something to celebrate and value.”
She said it was crucial to work toward fewer unintended pregnancies, because then women would not be put in the position of having to make a decision on abortion.
“We should all be working together (with pro-life advocates),” she said. “That is the key — for this moral debate that’s been raging for the 30 years to come to an end.”