LARGELY thanks to the media and anti-choice extremists, the majority of Americans think the pro-choice and "pro-life" controversy centers around one issue: abortion. However, being pro-choice means so much more than simply trusting women to make their own reproductive decisions. If you look past the media and anti-choice politicians and extremists and into the actual pro-choice movement, you see the real breadth of what it means to be pro-choice. In fact, as Cristina Page, author of "How the Pro-Choice Movement Saved America: Freedom, Politics, and the War on Sex," stated so well, "the pro-choice movement is doing a better job at what the public understands to be the pro-life agenda than the pro-lifers are."
The majority of pro-choice endeavors focus on education and prevention. The goal of the pro-choice community is to ensure that all teens and families have access to medically accurate sex education so that they can make healthy, responsible reproductive choices. The pro-choice movement believes that every individual has a right to pursue sexual health information and services without fear, shame or exploitation. That right involves access to adequate, accurate and age-appropriate information about sexuality, including the advantages and disadvantages of sexual expression.
The pro-choice community also realizes the danger of abstinence-only programs that neglect to provide important information and do nothing to prevent unintended pregnancies and stop the spread of sexually transmitted infections. In order to prevent unintended pregnancies and, therefore, reduce the number of abortions, people need medically accurate information about reproduction, contraception and family planning services.
Planned Parenthood, a leader of the pro-choice movement, "seek[s] to increase understanding of sexuality as a normal, healthy, lifelong aspect of human development, enhance[s] awareness that there are differences in sexual expression and that sexuality is a personal matter and help[s] individuals understand their sexuality, communicate their sexual feelings and decisions to others, and accept responsibility for their sexual decisions." Planned Parenthood's education programs, family planning services and "put prevention first" campaigns do more to prevent unintended pregnancies than the gruesome demonstrations led by anti-choice groups outside of clinics providing these vital services.
Unfortunately, the pro-choice community must respond to these extremist activities in addition to anti-choice legislation and false, unscientific claims made by anti-choice groups. When the pro-choice community mobilizes against anti-choice actions, they must divert their energy and attention from helpful educational and preventative programs. If "pro-life" advocates wanted to reduce the number of abortions, they would join pro-choice groups and stop distracting the movement from providing helpful programs and services that prevent unintended pregnancies.
The pro-choice movement emphasizes respect for others' beliefs and privacy. Being pro-choice means realizing that there are a variety of religious, spiritual and moral beliefs in America. Any movement that strives to push one moral belief on an entire nation is a threat to privacy and democracy. Furthermore, any law that tells people what they can and cannot do with their bodies is dangerous. If the right to reproductive choice disappears, then the question is: What basic rights will we lose next? Many people who would not choose abortion for themselves realize that everyone's situation is unique and respect the right of other to makes their own reproductive decisions.
Being pro-choice also means supporting equal access to contraception, including emergency contraception. Emergency contraception is simply a larger dose of the hormones found in most birth control pills and works to prevent a pregnancy after unprotected (the condom breaks, you forgot to take your birth control pill) or unplanned (sexual assault) sex.
Although EC is not a primary form of contraception, it is important to have readily available as a back-up method. EC can be taken within 120 hours after unprotected or unplanned sex, but the sooner the better. When taken within 24 hours, it is 95 percent effective, while after 72 hours, the efficacy is down to 89 percent, according to a World Health Organization study. The pro-choice movement strives to make EC available over the counter and encourages all pharmacies to stock and fill EC. In order to prevent unintended pregnancies, the pro-choice movement encourages all women and men to learn about EC and have it readily available, just in case.
Being pro-choice is about education, prevention, respect, privacy, equality and so much more. Although the media and anti-choice extremists suggest the pro-choice community is "pro-abortion," people should look further into the issues and the movement before believing such an erroneous claim. If people looked deeper into the matter, they would see that the pro-choice community is pro-life, pro-child, pro-family and pro-active.
Laura Fischer is a fourth year in the College.
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