Students, faculty change opinions about abortion
GCSU students and faculty reflect on the changing attitudes towards abortion 35 years after the Supreme Court’s legalization of abortion in the Roe versus Wade case.
Last Tuesday marked the thirty-fifth anniversary of Roe v. Wade, calling for a moment of consideration on how the legislation and perceptions of abortion have evolved over the past three and a half decades.
Statistically speaking, the biggest change in abortion has been the decrease of abortion. After peaking in the 1980s, abortion rates have steadily declined each year at an average of .5 percent, due in part to easier access to contraceptives and increased sex education, according to the Guttenmacher Institute.
However, even though abortion rates are decreasing, legislation to limit abortion has increased. The Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003, which made an abortion in the second-trimester a criminal act, as well as state laws requiring parental consent of abortions for minors, a 24-hour “abortion waiting period” and the proposal of a Human Life Amendment, all threaten to reduce the initial precedence of Roe v. Wade.
With declining abortion rates and increased abortion-limiting legislation, it seems as if attitudes towards abortion are shifting in the oppose direction. Yet a majority of Americans—around 73 percent—identify themselves as pro-choice, according to a Guttenmacher Institute poll.
However, many claim it is the terminology of the abortion argument that muddles the issue in a moral gridlock.
Jennifer Graham-Stevens, GCSU’s Women’s Resource Center coordinator, explains the often-misunderstood definition of pro-choice. “Pro-choice is not necessarily pro-abortion but it is just allowing women the option of what choice is best for them,” she said.
The issue of choice, some believe is more central to Roe v. Wade than the issue of abortion. Or as Dr. Barbara Funke, professor of health education, explains: it is more about the right to choose, than the right to an abortion.
Unlike GCSU students, Funke remembers the time before abortion was a legal choice for women.
“The difference with college students is that abortion has always been legal for them, they have never had to think about a world without the choice,” Funke said.
For most GCSU students, attitudes towards abortion include a hybrid belief in both pro-choice and pro-life stances.
To Brooke Lucas, senior accounting major, the legality of abortion makes her pro-choice even though morally, she is pro-life.
“I personally don’t think abortion should be allowed, “Lucas said, “but if you make it illegal, there would just be more problems, so I think it should be a legal and safe option for women.”
Rebekah Clarke, who identifies herself as pro-life, states that she is against the decision of Roe v. Wade, but that abortion will still more than likely remain legal. “I think making limits on (abortion) is a step in the right direction but I don’t think it will ever get to a total ban (on abortion) because we are past the point of no return. You can’t give people rights and then take them away,” Clarke said.
Fellow self-proclaimed pro-lifer, Justin Reeves agrees. “I don’t know if (abortion) can be legislated because you can’t legislate morals,” Reeves said.
For Kim O’Toole, founder of the GCSU Feminists, any attempts at restricting the decision of Roe v. Wade infringes on the pro-choice belief.
“Making abortion illegal is like domestic violence against women on a governmental scale. Women should not have to conform to a society’s morals that don’t have their best interests at heart.”
Amid blurred moral definitions of what it means to be pro-choice or pro-life, the consensus around GCSU seems to show that upholding the Roe v. Wade legalization of abortion is just as important and relevant as it was 35 years ago.
Posted by Colonnade Archives
on Feb 1 2008. Filed under News.
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