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Thursday, March 28
The Indiana Daily Student

PACE course discusses abortion

No yelling, no interrupting, no hostility.

A group of 93 students spent more than five hours Saturday discussing, not debating, abortion and reproductive rights for the 7th annual Political and Civic Engagement issues forum.

The forum is part of PACE-C400: Issues Forum, a single credit hour course open to any IU student and offered by the PACE certificate program. PACE director and professor of philosophy Sandra Shapshay said the issue forum aims to create a respectful space to have difficult conversations.

“It’s not about being right or wrong,” said event organizer Lisa-Marie Napoli. “Everyone here has different backgrounds, and because of these differences we can have interesting and engaging conversations.”

Napoli challenged students to talk with someone who disagrees with them.

After check-ins and introductions, students divided into eight small groups to discuss assigned readings on abortion, democracy and philosophy.

Napoli trained 15 PACE students to work as neutral moderators during the group sessions.

Lauren Godshall, a junior in the PACE program, began her group’s discussion by asking students how they came to have the values the have regarding abortion. Many of the students referenced their religion.

Maria Guido, a sophomore religious studies major, said she plans to become a Lutheran pastor but strongly identifies as pro-choice.

“There’s a tendency to just go with what the church says,” Guido said. “But that can be negative.”

Freshman a Haney was raised by conservative parents and attended a private Christian high school in Indiana. Her dad bought her a pro-life license plate for her silver Saturn SUV. Haney identifies as pro-choice but uses the license plate anyway.

“Pro-life does not equal anti-choice and pro-choice does not equal anti-life,” Haney said.

No one in the discussion openly identified as pro-life. Their group agreed abortion is full of grey areas and is affected by outside issues like politics and socioeconomics. Other students at the forum had varied opinions, but remained civil.

“Having a conversation about abortion isn’t comfortable,” Godshall said. “But it’s important.”

Godshall was one of the original proponents of making abortion the focus of this year’s forum.

“It’s a topic that’s not often discussed,” Godshall said. “And it’s not often discussed in a safe space.”

Students attended an expert panel between discussion sections. Each of the four panelists represented a different perspective on abortion. They covered the historical, philosophical, legal and medical aspects of the issue.

“It’s curious to me how common this procedure is and how little people talk about it,” IU Health Center Staff Physician Judy 
Klein said.

Back in the discussion group, students told Godshall they were moved by professor of law Dawn Johnsen’s argument that limiting abortion primarily hurts minorities and the poor.

They agreed the key to reducing abortions was implementing better sex education programs and ensuring the availability of prenatal care.

Godshall said the students’ empathetic conversations about abortion exceeded her expectations.

“They were very respectful,” Godshall said. “It gives me hope.”

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