Though college students might be conceived as bleeding heartliberals, not all Northwestern students fit the mold.
Take, for example, the 20 students who showed up last Wednesdayto the first meeting of Northwestern Students for Life, a newstudent group at NU that opposes abortions.
“This (group) is trying to fill the void for the pro-lifeposition (on campus),” said Katie Althen, a Weinberg senior andacting president of the group.
The organization focuses on improving adoption resources oncampus and provide resources for students opposed to abortion whoare pregnant as well as awareness activities.
New club members spent their first meeting getting to know oneanother, discussing how they came to be abortion protesters andcoming up with ideas for action.
Most attendants cited religion and upbringing as the mainreasons for their position. Others said outside influencesconvinced them abortion was wrong.
“The movie ‘The Silent Scream’ — everyone should be shown thismovie at some point in their life,” said Beth Gianfrancisco, anEducation junior.
Gianfrancisco said the movie and other research made herphysically ill and cemented her anti-abortion position. Others inthe group said they thought abortion was gruesome and barbaric. Onenew member placed it in the category of legal murder.
The main goal of the group is to bring down the number ofabortions at NU, according to activism chairman Ben Snyder, byincreasing awareness of other options and by working with SearleStudent Health Service and Women’s Coalition.
Statistics on pregnancy and the prevalence of abortion among NUstudents were unavailable.
Searle’s current policy is to refer pregnant students to PlannedParenthood, Snyder said.
“For those of us here, that doesn’t even seem like a choice,”said Snyder, a Weinberg sophomore. He said Planned Parenthoodpromotes abortion, an opinion many in the group said theyshared.
It is the group’s position that the university should doeverything it can to promote abortion alternatives, such asadoption referrals and offer time off from school to have a baby.The group has no official position on contraceptives.
Women’s Coalition member Lindsay Shadrick, who personally favorsabortion, said she does not support resolving the debate with alegal prohibition.
“We hope through this discourse that people can come to realizethe importance of a woman’s right to choose,” said Shadrick, aWeinberg sophomore. “We want people to see what other views are andcome to their own conclusions.”
Shadrick said she appreciates the new group’s emphasis onresources other than abortion for pregnant students, but added thatthe main focus of Women’s Coalition is prevention.
Although Student for Life members condemned abortion and itsprevalence on college campuses, they said they wanted to make surethey did not have a bad image on campus.
“We as a whole group need to make sure that it is our prioritynot to alienate people,” Althen said. “We’re not a bunch ofright-wing radical wackos.”
