A group of anti-abortion demonstrators met Tuesday morning on the South Oval to share their perspective on reproductive issues and hear from others.
In an interview with The Daily, staff member for Justice For All Jonathan Wagner said that the organization was invited by Christian OU student organization Pursuit College Ministry to “create dialogue on the issue of abortion.”
“Our hope is to open up an opportunity for discussion,” Wagner said. “We think that’s possible. We do think abortion is an injustice against the pre-born human being.”
Wagner said they want to hear the opinions of others in an attempt to understand their views and engage in conversation.
“There’s different angles for sure and we want to be able to be available,” Wagner said. “If someone wants to talk about a certain topic or another angle, we’re open to that as well.”
In an interview with The Daily, JFA staff member Mary St. Hilaire said the point of discussion is deciding whether an “unborn baby” is a human being.
“We believe if the unborn is a human being, then he or she does have the right to life,” Hilaire said. “If not, then absolutely abortion is a woman’s right because then you’re just killing a clump of cells.”
Wagner said he believes a human is formed at the “earliest moments” and acknowledges the scientific approach OU students may take on the matter of abortion.
“What we realize for a lot of OU students is they want to engage the scientific issue or the philosophical issue,” Wagner said. “Wherever they’re going into discussion, we’re willing to engage that but we do want to give a clear reasoning for why this is a whole human living organism and why they should be protected.”
In an interview with The Daily, Students for Reproductive Justice at OU president Tasha Dawson said the right to an abortion is health care, and health care is a “human right.”
“The reality is there are too many barriers for reproductive health care, and this disproportionately affects Black, Indigenous and [other] people of color,” Dawson said. “We are going to continue to have this conversation to not only fight for reproductive health care and justice, but to also ensure that people feel supported. Every person’s decision about their reproductive health care should be respected.”
Wagner said his organization believes the right to an abortion “enables men and hurts women,” citing a woman’s “tough” choice between abortion, adoption or parenting.
“For men, (fathers are) basically allowed to just leave,” Wagner said. “If the woman does have the baby, he would have to pay child support. Essentially, he could peace out, and the woman has three tough options.”
Wagner said women are often pressured into an abortion by their families or boyfriends.
“That’s not even a pro-choice type of thing to do,” Wagner said. “It’d be pressuring somebody, which is not pro-choice. That would be trying to force them into it.”
Hilaire said the difference between pro-choice and pro-life is the matter of women’s rights versus human rights.
“If you’re pro-choice, you are concerned about women’s rights. If you’re pro-life, you’re concerned about human rights,” Hilaire said. “I think we just need to have a conversation about it because it is an important issue. Obviously our organization is a pro-life group. We believe that the unborn is human from conception, and they have the right to life.”
Dawson said the right to an abortion does not apply solely to women but to any person with a uterus.
“It’s important for people to have access to a safe and legal abortion because every single person has the right to affordable and accessible health care,” Dawson said “Every person should be able to make decisions about their own body.”
Speaking to the topic of whether men should have a say in a one’s right to an abortion, Hilaire said she believes men should speak out.
“It definitely is more personal to me because I can relate more,” Hilaire said. “I can put myself in the shoes of a woman who’s pregnant, has an unplanned pregnancy, and how scary that would be for sure. I don't think that means men can’t have a voice.”
Dawson said the issue is not the gender of the person discussing the issue, but rather making the decision for others.
“The issue is that people are trying to make health care decisions for others,” Dawson said. “No matter a person’s personal feelings on abortion, we can all agree that this is not the place of someone, including politicians, to make decisions for someone else.”
Hilaire said if abortion is the killing of a human being, the matter doesn’t have to affect one personally in order to speak out against it.
“That goes for any injustice, not just abortion,” Hilaire said. “It goes for sexism and racism. Men should speak out against sexism against women, right? Because that's an injustice; that's objectively wrong. I think men can have a voice for sure, but I definitely think that women have an advantage in talking about this issue.”
Dawson said the injustice is access to health care rather than abortion itself.
“Abortions are safe and effective health care,” Dawson said. “Depriving people to have access to healthcare is the injustice.”
Hilaire said both sides can agree on certain factors — the difficulty of an unplanned pregnancy and the need for a solution.
“There’s so many reasons that people are pro-choice and there’s so many reasons people get abortions,” Hilaire said. “Unplanned pregnancy is difficult, and it’s very complicated. It’s difficult even if you want the pregnancy, and we understand that.”
Hilaire said they understand the various complications of pregnancy and want to find solutions.
“We realize that people have different lives and struggles they’re going through whether they're poor, or they’re just really young, or they’re not married, or they want to finish college,” Hilaire said. “We understand, and those are really valid concerns. Where we’re coming from, though, is we agree on all these things and these struggles that people go through, and we want to find solutions to them.”
Dawson said the means by which people can make reproductive decisions for themselves need to be provided.
“Abortion is a personal decision that you cannot make for someone else,” Dawson said. “That is why we must focus on providing the tools and access for people to make these decisions for themselves.”
