IU women's organization advocates for abortion rights

Nine students of the Women’s Student Association stood bouncing and swaying against the January winter wind Monday. The students held handcrafted poster boards marked with pro-choice messages.

As the car horns sounded from passersby, fists went up, voices rose and members of the group erupted in unison with a cheer.

“Most of the interaction comes from honking,” one of the members said after a motorist passed by and blared his horn.

Standing at the front of the line of activists was freshman Marcella Ettinger. Her older sister, Miranda Ettinger, is the president of the Women’s Student Association.

“We just kind of agreed that it would be fun to come out here,” Marcella Ettinger said. “I think they do it every year.”

Senior Evelyn Smith, the director of educational programming, said it is not uncommon for men to participate in the WSA. From 1 to 3 p.m. Monday, the group stood outside of the Sample Gates.

Smith said the reason for the bouncing back and forth stemmed partly from being so animated for the group’s cause, but also from the need to keep somewhat warm in the cold weather conditions.

“Yesterday was the 39th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision, so we always do this around this time,” Smith said. “We did it last year and have for many years in a row.”

The now landmark court case was decided on Jan. 22, 1973. The decision issued by the U.S. Supreme Court gave women the right to have abortions, providing that the right is balanced against the state’s legitimate interests that regulate abortions. This includes the protection of prenatal life, as well as the protection of the woman’s health. The Court eventually decided the case by directly comparing the woman’s respective state of residence and her current trimester of pregnancy.

The decision’s anniversary tends to spark debate and demonstrations about the still controversial issue.

Throughout Sunday afternoon, the 2012 Rally for Life took place on the lawn of the Monroe County Courthouse. This was the 20th year the event took place. The rally drew more pro-choice advocates than ever before in the event’s past.

“This is one of the biggest anti-life crowds I’ve seen,” Andrew Henry, a pro-life activist who attended with his daughter and pregnant wife, said Sunday. “I had a couple of guys say things I’d never repeat. Often, they are very rude and impolite while we are here very calmly, peacefully.”

Lane Bowman, a former IU student in attendance at the Rally for Life, said he felt compelled to join the students in protest, but chose to remain indifferent.

“I was ignorant to how prevalent it was and pleaded ignorance,” he said.

On Monday, senior and Director of Activism Rachael Richter stood behind her year-old, marker-soaked sign which read “If can’t be trusted w/a choice, how can I be trusted w/a child?”

Richter said she thought about what points would be supportive of her argument and constructed her own sign.

“I made this last year, and we were kind of just brainstorming about what points we thought were really critical arguments,” Richter said.

She said some pro-life supporters don’t take into full consideration what happens to a child after birth.

“They don’t think about that child, that mother, that person after the baby is born,” Richter said. “So this is kind of my point in saying, like, ‘Let me control my own life, and (others should) trust that I’m a smart human being, and if you don’t think I’m smart enough to be able to make those choices for myself, why would you want me to be raising a child?’”

— Jaclyn Lansbery contributed to this report