Speaking to a crowded auditorium at the College of General Studies last night, Eleanor Smeal, president of the Feminist Majority Foundation, encouraged young women to take steps to protect their reproductive rights.
As part of the Feminist Majority Foundation’s “Never Go Back” campaign, Smeal came to Boston University to raise awareness that the United States is in danger of a conservative majority in the Supreme Court, which she said would lead to the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
Smeal said that young men and women across the world should realize that legalized abortions are in a precarious position and the loss of this right may cause a domino effect.
“This would be the worst, the Roe thing for us right now, but I’m not even sure it would be the worst in the long run,” Smeal said.
Smeal said that if the balance within the Supreme Court is lost, then citizens of the United States will not be able to turn to the federal courts system to ensure women’s rights and other civil rights for at least 30 years.
In a statement released by Feminist Majority Foundation, Smeal said, “For the first time since Roe vs. Wade was passed in 1973, we have an anti-abortion president and anti-abortion majority in both the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House. With vacancies on the U.S. Supreme Court imminent, women must mobilize now to keep the gains we have made in the past three decades.
“How do we get on the right track? It’s young people getting good and darn mad,” Smeal said.
In support of her organization’s campaign, which endorses the filibuster of votes on President Bush’s proposed Supreme Court appointments, Smeal said, “We who believe in choice have to be willing to use parliamentary procedure to stop this from happening.”
She said that the threat to abortion rights will be defeated when “young women take to the streets and stop letting old men tell them what to do.”
“Where do they find these characters?” Smeal asked, regarding Bush’s proposed appointments to the courts and other federal positions.
Smeal said she was concerned that the resignations would come at a time when their significance would be overshadowed by other things.
“We’re going to have a resignation on a Friday night at five o’clock the day we start bombing Iraq,” Smeal said.
According to Smeal, President Bush’s biggest goal is re-election.
“If he sees how much women care about this issue, maybe he will do something about his choice of appointments,” Smeal said.
Smeal encouraged those in attendance to contact their senators, and send a message to the president, that abortion rights are important to them and they will not support candidates who are unconcerned with adequate women’s healthcare.
Notably, Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts does not completely support the Feminist Majority Foundation’s filibuster campaign, according to Smeal. Speakers were sure to point out that the other Massachusetts senator, Senator Edward Kennedy, is an ally for women’s groups and pro-choice activists.
Pam Nourse, vice president of the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts, said that while many people consider Massachusetts to be a liberal state in support of abortion rights, Planned Parenthood clinics across the state are still subject to protesters and intimidation.
In fact, Nourse said one of the worst clinic killings occurred in Boston eight years ago, when two receptionists at a Brookline Planned Parenthood were killed by a pro-life extremist.
Smeal also spoke on the importance of state government in an issue like abortion rights.
“The smaller the vehicle, the less focus. The less focus, the easier it is to fix votes,” Smeal said. “They can change all kinds of things and average Americans living there wouldn’t know that it’s happening.”
Smeal compared the religious extremists in the United States, who threaten those who work in and utilize women’s health centers, to the religious extremism of the Taliban.
“Religious extremism in Afghanistan and religious extremism over here isn’t really that different,” Smeal said. “They want to use the law to outlaw what other people can and can’t do.”
“If you think the Taliban is under control there, forget it,” Smeal said. “If you think it’s under control and we can go to Iraq, forget it.”
Smeal told people to log onto the organization’s website to send a direct message to the president and the State Department, asking for more in instant, international peace keeping forces.
Smeal also offered her views on Bush’s refusal to release the United State’s International Family Planning money.
According to Smeal, President Bush refuses to release the funds because he says it is being used to perform forced abortions in China, even though a special commission formed to probe the situation came to the conclusion that the money was not being used for that purpose.
In her closing remarks, Smeal reiterated her suggestion for young people to get involved in grassroots campaigns.
“We’re looking for people to stand up for reason, science, women’s rights, civil rights,” she said. “Money isn’t everything. … We need brilliant people on the non-profit side.
“The rewards are endless,” she said.