Abortion Policy Group Provides Save Space

To the editors:

I was disappointed with the recent column by Meredith B. Osborn ’02 (“Arguing Abortion, Responsibly,” March 15), particularly the parts concerning the “Abortion: The Legal and Political Landscape” policy group I am leading at the IOP. Osborn points out that one of the initial outreach e-mails I sent mentioned “tentative plans...to invite two speakers, a convicted abortion clinic bomber and someone as far to the Left on the issue as possible.” However, I made it very clear to her, after an interview, that if there were someone coming to the group who felt threatened by an actual clinic bomber, the group would not host such a person. Osborn’s column glides over my concerns in favor of a personal jab, calling my proposal “disrespectful...to the students who come to the study group wanting to learn and discuss in a safe environment.” Her attack thereby ignores the stated purpose of the policy group: to openly and reasonably discuss this most sensitive of topics.

Had Osborn taken the time to attend the group, she would have found that the first two weeks were spent discussing precisely the need to minimize emotionally charged language in order to provide a safe space to “discuss abortion responsibly.” It is her column that defies this openness in its blatantly political slant.

Boleslaw Z. Kabala ’03

March 19, 2002