By Judy Buckman
After his
Inauguration, while participating in the MLK Day of Service, Barack
Obama spoke eloquently about volunteering. He said,
"We can't allow any idle hands.
Everybody's got to be involved. If we're waiting for somebody else to
do something, it never gets done.
We're
going to have to take responsibility, all of us. This is not just a one-day affair."
The same could be said of your involvement in South
Jersey NOW -- Alice Paul chapter. We need all hands
on deck! Please let us know that you can
help us in some way in the coming year.
A great example of how
this works was the Roe V. Wade event that the chapter co-sponsored on
January 22 with Planned Parenthood
of Southern NJ at the Unitarian Church. Attendees were enthusiastic with their
praise. Many young women in the audience, who have
never known a life
without legal abortion, were enthralled as
they listened to the horror of the pre-Roe stories. The Executive
Director
of Planned
Parenthood, who was also in the audience, said that you could have heard
a pin drop. If you want to see photos or a video of
the event, let us
know.
Special thanks go to
Tedi Marville who graciously donated her amazing graphic artist skills
to design the logo and Program Book. Special
thanks also to Kate Gribbin, who not
spent several weekends locating and editing more than a dozen moving
and memorable "stories" about
Roe which became the basis of
the presentation, but who also directed the presentation.
Both Tedi and Kate are
former chapter presidents and we are grateful that they continue to
make such valuable contributions. Thanks
also
to other past chapter presidents were also
on the Program Committee (Joy Booth, Judy Buckman, and Rita Spaulding)
or served as a reader
(Barbara Irvine). In
addition, thanks toDea Evans, a reader
who volunteers for both South Jersey NOW and Planned Parenthood. Here are
some of Judy
Buckman's Concluding Remarks given at theend of the
program:
Thank
you for helping us celebrate and commemorate the 36th
Anniversary of Roe v Wade, the Supreme Court decision which gave women
the
choice of safe and legal abortions.
Tonight,
you've heard stories that took place before, during and after the Roe
decision and I think they illustrate, from a variety of vantage
points,
why so many of us have fought so hard for so long to ensure that we
never go back to the bad old days.
Many of
us share the feelings that were expressed tonight.
One of the thoughts that resonated with me is:
"If you can't control your body,
you lose
control of just about everything else in your life".
As you
all know, pro-choice people do NOT believe in abortion.
Pro-choice people believe in the right of each
person to make the choice for
themselves
based on their moral, religious or personal beliefs.
I would never advocate that someone have an
abortion. And after 35 years
of
working for women's rights, I've never met anyone who would tell
anybody to have an abortion.
On the
other hand, anti-choice people --(and I hope that no one ever says the
words "Pro-Life" again since those words imply that we are not
for
life) believe that they should make this decision not only for
themselves but for everyone -- for people they know and for people they
don't
know.
They claim that their beliefs are based on the humanity of each person
but I think it has as much to do with controlling women's lives.
The
difference is --I can let them act in accordance with their beliefs but
they can't let me act in accordance with mine.
In
addition to thanking the Planning Committee members whose names appear
on the back of your program book, I'd also like to thank our
readers
who so movingly brought these stories to life.
We hope
that you will take to heart the advice that you've heard tonight. Because it's not enough to just say you're
pro-choice. That's too easy
-- talk
is cheap. Instead, you need to BE pro-choice. Speak
to women about your beliefs, and not just other pro-choice women!!
Speak to your
friends,
relatives, neighbors and the co-workers with whom you feel close, about
the choices you and they have made. Speak
with your doctors.
Write
letters to the editor expressing your views and sharing your
experiences. Give a donation to the WIN
Fund so we can help women in dire
financial
circumstances to afford abortions. Volunteer to escort one Saturday
morning a month at the South Jersey
Women's Center. Check out
the
resources listed in the program book, and share what you learn with
others.
