Through Driving Rain, Students Rally For Abortion Rights

thusiasm of abortion-rights advocates yesterday as they gathered in front of the Science Center to call on the Harvard community to support a woman’s right to an abortion.

About 30 students—holding posters and chanting phrases like “Pro-Choice or No Choice” and “Stop Bush’s War on Women”—huddled under a mass of umbrellas to hear a handful of speakers address issues of legality, politics and publicity tactics in the abortion debate.

“The purpose of the rally was to allow every person who has, as an individual, felt targeted, shamed or morally judged [because of anti-abortion campaigns] to see a visual representation of a supportive community on campus,” said Abigail L. Fee ’05, president of Students for Choice, which co-sponsored the rally.

Fee said part of the impetus for the rally was a feeling that the debate over abortion had become nothing more than a feud of propaganda.

The rally was an effort to create a supportive—and constructive—environment for supporters of abortions rights to voice their opinion, Fee said.

“Okay, we’re angry, but today let’s get over it and be active, not in a reactive way but in the way we want to...with education, outreach and support,” Fee said.

Tensions on campus between Students for Choice and Harvard Right to Life (HRL) flared up this fall when HRL initiated a postering campaign that featured a rape victim who expressed remorse for having had an abortion.

HRL Vice President Laura E. Openshaw ’05, who was present at the rally handing out HRL leaflets with some other group members, said even though there has been heated discussion this fall, “in general this year has been a really good year in terms of dialogue between the groups.”

She cited the debate about abortion which the Harvard Political Union held this Tuesday as an example of how the two groups have a mutual respect for one another and a desire to address opposing views effectively.

Openshaw said she would like to continue such dialogue in the future.

Some of the speakers at the rally, however, suggested students supporting abortion rights must take a more aggressive stance on the issue.

“We are at war. This is a war for our bodies and our rights. This is a call to arms,” said Sara T. DiMaggio ’06, a member of the Harvard Socialist Alternative, which also co-sponsored the rally.

But many of the abortion-rights advocates said they see their most important battle as being against the Bush administration, which passed legislation limiting the ability of women to undergo partial birth abortions.

Students for Choice members said they see this ban as a violation of reproductive rights and personal freedoms.

“Keep your laws off my body! When the government tries to take away our rights, we have to stand up and say ‘No!’” Shannon M. Lavelle ’06 said to loud applause.

The Radcliffe Union of Students and the Initiative for Peace and Justice also co-sponsored the event.