Ireland Jabs Bush on Women's Rights

Patricia Ireland, the sometimes controversial president of the National Organization of Women (NOW), spoke last night about her pro-choice stance on abortion and what she sees as the threats posed to women's rights by the new Bush Administration.

In the talk, given at the ARCO Forum at the Kennedy School of Government, Ireland frequently digressed, covering topics ranging from rapper Eminem's hotly debated lyrics to the Taliban's treatment of women in Afghanistan.

She mocked the belief that preventing the supply of contraception would stop unmarried couples from having sex, and criticized the views of many Republicans, including Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, whom she described as being "held up by duct tape and bailing wire."

Her primary focus, though, remained on abortion and what she said was the threat to women posed by the policies of the Bush Administration. To that end she compared their social conservatism, with its attacks upon both the right to choose and the use of various forms of contraception, to "a poke in the eye with a sharp stick."

"The right to self-determination is both fundamental and symbolic," Ireland said in defending a women's right to choose an abortion.

In contrast to the apathy and complacence which she said existed after eight years of President Clinton's administration, she said that America now finds itself in a crisis situation.

In advocating an emergency NOW protest march in Washington, D.C. in April, Ireland asserted that there exists "an opportunity literally to change the course of history and politics in this country."

Elizabeth F.M. Janiak '03, a member of Harvard Students for Choice, which is organizing a trip to the march in April, agreed, saying that she hoped Ireland's speech would mobilize members of the Harvard community to attend the event.

Rebecca W. Dell '04, however, stressed the limited impact of the speech.

"How can such an important talk be so poorly attended?" she said.

While the forum was not entirely full, the predominantly female audience was largely receptive to Ireland's message.

Questions were generally friendly, although when she was aggressively challenged about her opposition to President Clinton's impeachment, Ireland reasserted her belief that his behavior towards women was "indefensible."

The talk was co-sponsored by a plethora of Harvard-based organizations, including the Institute of Politics, the Kennedy School's Women in Public Policy Program, the Women's Student Association, Harvard Students for Choice and the Progressive Jewish Alliance.