Northwestern’s only student-led sex education group, Sexual Health and Assault Peer Educators fights to expand access to reproductive health resources for all students on campus. One of our biggest achievements was giving NU students free emergency contraception through our Plan B Hotline, a form students can fill out to get free Plan B on demand.
It is a service we are excited to expand through a Sexual Health Vending Machine in Norris, courtesy of the Center for Student Advocacy and Wellness and the Associated Student Government.
Reproductive health is a domain of health where actual evidence is the least considered. Due to the history of patriarchal control over women’s bodies, SHAPE often receives criticism from those who want us to approach sexual health in a way that emphasizes their religious outlook rather than evidence-based practice.
Last year, an NU student journalist reached out to us about our Plan B Hotline to cover it on the independent college news website, Campus Reform. While we love to support student journalism, it was clear that their intent was not to inform people about the initiative, but rather to demonize SHAPE for our choice to offer students a full spectrum of sexual healthcare. This sort of “outrage journalism” is not uncommon in the modern day. Even mainstream news often chooses sensationalism over balanced, ethical journalism.
The contributor did not inform us about the anti-contraceptive tone of the article, which reflects the style of journalism that these sorts of blogs cultivate. The questions are framed neutrally, even though they take quotes and chop them up in a way that gets their audience the most enraged and reinforces their perceptions about “crazy liberals” who attend our country’s top universities.
Of course, our lack of comment did not stop them from publishing their article, in which they attack SHAPE’s decision to make condoms, lube and emergency contraception more accessible to NU’s student body. Beyond that, they found a way to make the article about transgender people (who’s surprised?) and mention SHAPE offering resources tailored to transgender survivors of interpersonal violence.
It is riddled with factual inconsistencies, including the implication that emergency contraception is abortion (Levonorgestrel — brand name Plan B One-Step/Julie — prevents or delays ovulation, preventing conception in the first place) and that SHAPE represents the University as a whole (we are a student group). By offering emergency contraception, they imply that we are encouraging people to have unprotected sex (we give out condoms too — they literally talk about it in the article).
Autonomy and evidence-based practice are central to SHAPE’s approach to sexual and reproductive health. Students should always have the choice to use Plan B, get an abortion or carry a fetus to term.
Our choice to make safer sex supplies and Plan B more accessible and connect students with abortion resources is in accordance with recommendations from the American Medical Association and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. We choose science and professionalism over zealotry in our decision-making.
Safer sex supplies, contraception and abortion are essential healthcare. Every major medical association in the United States agrees, and SHAPE will always make sure students have access to a full spectrum of safe sexual health resources.
Abstinence-only sex education does not work, and we refuse to approach sexual health in a way that is both contrary to scientific evidence and discouraged by the most eminent medical organization in the country.
Signed,
Sahil Desai, Director of SHAPE
Co-signed and affirmed by vote of the Executive Board of SHAPE
Sahil Desai is a Weinberg senior and Director of Sexual Health and Assault Peer Educators. They can be contacted at [email protected]. If you would like to respond publicly to this op-ed, send a Letter to the Editor to [email protected]. The views expressed in this piece do not necessarily reflect the views of all staff members of The Daily Northwestern.
