Word: hrl
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Last week, Harvard Right to Life (HRL), an anti-choice student group, set up an approved display on the lawn in front of Science Center featuring 440 miniature American flags to represent the 4,400 abortions performed each day in the United States. On Tuesday, nameless opponents defaced the display and on Wednesday all of the flags were uprooted. In recent weeks, those who disagree with HRL’s message have also torn-down many posters from its current “Women Deserve Better” campaign in the Houses and the Yard. At Harvard, where free speech...
Having gone to public schools in Hartford, Conn., a city where more girls become teenage mothers than graduate high school, I am only too aware of the situations of young mothers. I challenge HRL to show me how dropping out of high school to raise a child without the time, money or maturity necessary for its support is undoubtedly the better choice for a woman than an abortion. According to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, only one third of teenage mothers are likely to get high school diplomas, with only 1.5 percent graduating from college...
...anti-abortion activists who intimidate girls into motherhood also there to help them through it? Why did I know people who had to leave high school so they could hold down the multiple jobs they needed to support their children? Why doesn’t HRL offer free day care? If anti-choice groups would deny women comprehensive family planning, they should be there to help them through the motherhood they might not be ready for. The Crisis Pregnancy Centers that HRL advertises do offer many helpful services for pregnant women, but these are all short term. Furthermore, the goal...
...anti-choice groups were truly committed to reducing the number of abortions, wouldn’t they be in favor of comprehensive sex education, complete with preventative measures that extend beyond abstinence? Shouldn’t HRL be out there with Students For Choice, handing out condoms and educating students about the various methods of birth control? To be effective they must be proactive. Accept that premarital sex is a societal norm and educate people about safety and responsibility. Or, preach abstinence—but don’t be surprised when people accidentally become pregnant and desire the option...
What bothers me is that HRL has taken a feminist idea, that women deserve better, and co-opted it to deny women rights. Harvard Right To Life has the right to poster what they wish, and as tempted as I have been, I have never defaced or torn down one of their posters. Free speech must extend to all. But since the poster doesn’t specifically state what exactly it is that women deserve better than, I will take this opportunity to complete the thought...