''Take Back the Night'' Must Include Reproductive Rights
WASHINGTON--(COLLEGIATE PRESSWIRE)--Apr 18, 2001--
By Reverend Carlton W. Veazey, President, Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice
For more than 20 years, colleges have protested violence against women at Take Back the Night rallies. What began as a time to reclaim the night and the streets is now a protest of all forms of violence--assaults by strangers, attacks by acquaintances, sexism, racism, and homophobia. But the Bush Administration`s assault on reproductive choice may be the most threatening.
Attacks on abortion rights, family planning and contraception, and comprehensive sexuality education violate women`s ability to control their bodies and lives just as surely as direct physical blows. The threats are clear:
* Bush`s appointment of anti-choice extremist John Ashcroft as U.S. attorney general
* The global gag rule denying funds to family planning groups overseas that so much as mention abortion in counseling women
* Legislation to restrict RU-486 for early medical abortion
* The two U.S. Supreme Court appointments Bush is expected to make, enough to shift the court majority to overturn Roe v. Wade
Groups that claim to speak in the name of God and religion are behind this attack. Some of these groups say their convictions justify scaring and intimidating women. Some believe violence and even murder are justified. Instead of respecting a woman who has made a difficult moral decision to have an abortion, they hurl violent epithets and harass and terrorize her as she enters a clinic.
In fact, those who threaten women and doctors are members of fringe groups, militant extremists such as the Army of God and Operation Rescue who distort religion for their own purposes. It is important to know that mainstream people of faith abhor anti-choice violence. While they may anguish over abortion, most Christian and Jewish traditions believe it is a moral decision, one that a woman must make for herself in keeping with her faith, beliefs, conscience, and personal situation.
A woman`s ability to make her own reproductive decisions-including using contraception- is a fundamental part of her bodily integrity and self-determination. Anti-choice forces did not win at the polls and they will not win by terrorizing women. Don`t let the Bush Administration and Congress win by passing laws that rob women of control over their lives.
You can help safeguard reproductive freedom by joining other students working with the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice. Call us at 202-628-7700, email [email protected] or visit www.rcrc.org to get involved in keeping the faith for choice!
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