Recently, The Daily Pennsylvanian has run a few articles and columns raising concerns over the affordability of birth control and abortions. There’s an underlying issue here that these articles have missed — there’s more we need to be offering to women than abortion.
First, it’s important to ask why women have abortions. In 2005, researchers at the Guttmacher Institute — which was started by Planned Parenthood — published the survey, “Reasons U.S. Women Have Abortions: Quantitative and Qualitative Perspectives.”
“Women’s primary reasons for making this difficult decision are based on a lack of resources in light of their current responsibilities,” Lawrence Finer, one of the authors of the study, said in a Guttmacher press release. In most cases, the supposed freedom to choose is not freedom at all. As a society, we should be offering these women more than this.
A key facet of the mission of Penn for Life is to think about ways we can do this. One way is to support organizations that work to provide resources to pregnant women who choose to have their children. One of the many local organizations providing these resources is the Mothers’ Home in Darby, Pa. In addition to material and economic support, the Mothers’ Home provides residence for pregnant women, as well as parenting and vocational education.
This past week, Penn for Life ran a drive to collect items to help support these women and their children. Donations for the Mothers’ Home will be accepted today at the Penn Newman Center or tonight, Monday, at our banquet at 7:30 p.m. in the Terrace Room at Claudia Cohen Hall. At the banquet, 2007 College graduate and Pennsylvania State Rep. Nick Miccarelli (R-Delaware County) will give a talk and the a capella group Full Measure will perform. By hosting this event, we’re seeking to increase awareness about the realities of abortion and the alternatives.
Penn for Life is an student organization that advocates for the protection of life from conception and promotes alternatives to abortion. College junior and co-president Teresa Hamill can be contacted at tehamill@sas.upenn.edu.
