Clash Over Rights, Morals
By LANCE VAILLANCOURT Colorado Daily Staff Reporter
Tuesday, January 15, 2008 9:16 PM MST Colorado activists from opposite ends of the abortion issue will soon be doubling their efforts in response to a single event.
As a precursor to Jan. 22 marking the 35th anniversary of the Supreme Court's 1973 decision to uphold abortion as a constitutional right in its ruling of Roe V. Wade, Pro-Life and Pro-Choice organizations on a local and national scale are rallying their various supporters to come together and speak out on a variety of residual issues that are still as prevalent and pressing today as they were more than three decades ago.
One such event on the horizon will be taking place Feb. 1st on the Naropa University campus, where student-coordinated event “Fertile Grounds” will touch on a myriad of pregnancy issues that effect women from all walks of life.
“We're not trying to polarize the issue,” said Elaina Verveer, adjunct undergraduate instructor and advisor to students coordinating the event. “It's more about sharing stories and opening up a dialogue to the public, that might otherwise remain unheard. The objective of the event is to show that reproductive rights are not an isolated issue - it affects all of us.”
According to Verveer, the first half of the event will consist of a series of spoken word presentations, poetry and dance - inspired by the individual stories of women who have been affected by “underrepresented reproductive justice issues” - such as the birthing rights and conditions of incarcerated women, immigrants, parenting teens, and more.
“The second half of the event will feature a facilitated discussion with those in attendance,” said Verveer. “There have been several individuals who have been identified to serve as facilitators, and each of those individuals has an area of expertise.”
The discussion portion of the program is intended to open up a dialogue about the diverse issues raised by the performances. For more information about the event, visit the Fertile Grounds website at www.fertile-grounds.com.
Another upcoming local event concerning issues raised by Roe V. Wade will be held on the CU-Boulder campus on Friday, Jan. 18th when two critically acclaimed scholars will be debating the issue “Is Abortion Morally Justifiable?”
Taking the affirmative position will be Dr. David Boonin, professor of philosophy at CU-Boulder and author of “A Defense of Abortion.” Taking the negative position will be Dr. Peter Kreef, professor of philosophy at Boston College and one of the most highly sought-after public speakers on the Christian circuit.
Event Coordinator Matt Boettger, adjunct professor at the Augustan Institute and director of outreach and evangelism at the St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Center, told the Colorado Daily that the debate is designed to engage its attendees on an academic level.
“Our main objective is to cultivate a sense of academic dialogue on the university setting that is charitable and respectful of pluralism and tolerance,” he said. “We hope to give many students and faculty an alternative perspective to many issues in a way that is academic and equivalent to CU's high standards of excellence.”
The debate is free of charge, open to the public, and will begin at 7:00 p.m. in Humanities 1B50.
Whereas the two aforementioned events gear themselves toward fostering a discussion of different opinions, there are also several local events responding to the Roe V. Wade anniversary with a clearly defined stance on one side of the issue. Among them, NARAL Pro-Choice Colorado will be celebrating the decision with a number of public events designed to promote even further developments in pro-choice legislation.
“Our organization is the political leader in Colorado to bring activists out to stand up for reproductive rights and reproductive health care in our state,” said Toni Panetta, deputy director at NARAL Pro-Choice Colorado, who will be also be co-hosting a rally commemorating the 35th anniversary with a number of other pro-choice organizations on the west steps of the Colorado State Capitol Building in Denver at noon on Tuesday, Jan. 22.
“We will be gathering to discuss and demonstrate that being pro-choice is a mainstream value in Colorado,” she said.
NARAL is commemorating the Roe anniversary by having their National President, Mary Keenan, come to speak to pro-choice activists. They will also use the event as an opportunity to highlight pro-choice bills that have been introduced into Colorado legislature - bills that, according to Panetta, have helped improve NARAL's assessment of Colorado's reproductive healthcare laws from a “D” to a “C-.” The legislation that contributed to the slight improvement included Senate Bill 60 - which requires all health care facilities that treat sexual-assault victims to inform them about the availability and use of emergency contraception - and an enactment of comprehensive sex-education requirements throughout the state.
An organization that is taking a different stance on the Roe anniversary, is the Colorado Right to Life organization, who will be hosting a “March for Life” at the State Capitol Building on Saturday, Jan. 19th.
“Our goal is to call attention to innocent pre-born babies - 4,000 of whom are destroyed every day in this country,” said Leslie Hanks, vice president of the organization. “And we think it is appalling that Planned Parenthood is building the biggest baby death-camp in the country in north Denver.”
Hanks said she expects an attendance of roughly 1,000 supporters to show up for the right-to-life rally - in spite of the cold weather. She said she is looking forward to the event's keynote speaker making a statement about preconceived notions of what are often referred to as ‘special case' abortions.
“Our speaker is a woman named Julie Makimaa - she is a woman who was adopted and when she grew up and met her birth mother, she found out that she had been conceived in rape - and she is going to be speaking to us about why every life is worthy of protection."
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