NOW president speaks about abortion rights

With several Supreme Court justices poised for retirement and a new president now settling into the Oval Office, many young women are concerned about the future of abortion rights. And on Friday afternoon, National Organization for Women President Patricia Ireland spoke to 50 mostly female students and community members about the rights women could potentially lose under the Bush administration. During the Logan Hall speech, sponsored by Penn's chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union and Pennsylvania NOW, Ireland called for attendees to participate in NOW's Emergency Action for Women's Lives rally on April 22 in Washington. Ireland, who will be stepping down as NOW president at the end of this year, is stopping at 28 campuses, encouraging young people to speak out against what she called "Medical McCarthyism" -- the government's attempt to deny information and access to the public. Ireland is on the last leg of her tour. Drawing upon her own history and upon statistical information, she asked the audience not to be deceived by many of the half-truths which anti-abortion advocates promulgate. Ireland added that, less than 40 years ago, illegal abortion was the leading cause of maternal death in the country. "We must remember that women died, women were injured, women were maimed," she said. Making abortion illegal does not stop women from having abortions, Ireland asserted, noting that illegal abortion only makes the practice unsafe. Ireland herself underwent an illegal abortion before the landmark Roe v. Wade decision. She said that in order to obtain an illegal abortion, women often had to deal with the same people who sold illegal drugs and ran unauthorized casinos. Although she acknowledged that much progress has been made, Ireland said that the gains could be reversed, citing Muslim extremists in Afghanistan who are now restricting women's freedoms. She is concerned that too many women are in "denial" that they may someday be faced with an unwanted pregnancy. Emphasizing that she is concerned about not only abortion rights but women's rights in general, Ireland said that the loss of one right could have a domino effect on others -- even civil rights could be at stake. Audience members applauded the message behind Ireland's speech. "I definitely thought that Patricia Ireland was extremely informative, because she brought together the entire civil rights issue," College freshman Joshua Brown said. "Not just women's issues, which were her focus, but she showed us how they related to the broader context... how they related to labor issues, basic human rights issues and other things that we need to be concerned about as citizens." After the event, Ireland said that she was pleased with the student turnout, especially since her talk fell on Good Friday. "I see a new activism and a new idealism on campuses.... It seems to be a generation of students who feel very strongly about not being complicit with injustice," she said.