Roe v. Wade Anniversary Reflection

Emily Helm

WST 3015

January 25, 2012

Reflection Paper—Roe v. Wade Anniversary Event

            Last week I attended the 39^th anniversary celebration for Roe v. Wade, put on by Planned Parenthood of Greater Orlando. The event included a number of diverse speakers ranging from activists to ministers to community organizers to students. The theme of the evening was “what choice means to me,” and most of the speakers addressed this theme when they had the floor.

            Each speaker was moving and inspiring, but one woman, I can’t remember her name, really struck a cord with me. This woman was brave enough to share her personal story of why Planned Parenthood and Roe v. Wade are so vital to her life. In 1973 she was a junior in high school, living with her deeply religious parents, when she got pregnant. Because Roe v. Wade had just passed, she was able to visit her local Planned Parenthood to get an abortion. She said that if she had been denied this care, she would have killed herself rather than face her family.

            After the speech portion of the event was over, I was discussing this woman’s story with some friends. One friend mentioned that she thought the woman’s comment about killing herself was overly dramatic and insensitive to those affected by suicide. I disagreed; I believed the woman was being honest and sincere. I tried to imagine first a life in which the religious fervor of my parents created a threshold between us which would prevent me from trusting them or shame me so severely that I would rather die than reveal certain truths about my life. I then tried to imagine living in this type of home environment and not just getting pregnant, but getting pregnant in a world which denies me my right to reproductive choice.

            This task wasn’t easy; my parents are liberal Jewish doctors who would never question my personal choice or deny me medical care. I’ve spent the past week failing to properly grasp this situation. I finally got somewhere last night while watching “Dirty Dancing” for the eighty-four thousandth time.

Through uncontrollable tears I watch the paternal hands of Jerry Orbach caring for Penny, traumatized after a botched illegal abortion, and wonder why I can finally feel the impact of the vitality of reproductive rights through a cheesy film I’ve seen more times than I should be willing to admit. I’ve never had this reaction to Penny’s abortion before, why now? Why could I not connect with the woman’s experience when she was right in front of me, when I looked into her eyes and watched her worried hands steady each other as she related the worst experience of her life to a room of strangers.

Maybe the reason is that I’ve been so privileged to live my entire twenty years with the freedom of choice that I am too far removed from the experiences of women in my mother’s generation. Maybe the reason is that now my own right to choose is being threatened by the very government that once vowed to protect my rights. Both answers terrify me; I never want to be in a position where my good fortune disconnects me from the experiences of those less privileged than myself. If the woman’s purpose was to scare me away from my position of privilege and inaction, she was successful. I refuse to allow my right to choose to be taken; this is a fight we cannot afford to lose.

Introduction Letter

      Hi! My name is Emily Helm and I am in my third year at UCF. My major is in Creative Writing and I have two minors in film and Women’s Studies. This is my second women’s studies class.

I sort of fell into women’s studies by accident. Last spring I took Early American Literature class from Dr. Logan. Although I didn’t expect or intend to be very interested in texts like the captivity narrative of Mary Rowlandson or the poems Phillis Wheatley, I was completely captivated by Dr. Logan’s energy and style of teaching. Consequently when it came time to register for classes in the next semester I enrolled in Dr. Logan’s Advanced Feminist Theory, thus fulfilling my linguistics requirement for my English degree. I knew going in that I would enjoy any class instructed by Dr. Logan; what I did not know was that through being introduced to feminism in an academic setting I would discover not only what I truly desire to study in college, but also a way to express myself through activism.

     I considered myself a feminist before I took Feminist Theory, but I’m not sure that I had any kind of working definition for what that meant in general or what feminism meant to me. Now I view feminism as more than just a scholarly discipline, more than an ideology, more than mere activism. To me, feminism is all of these things—feminism must constantly be enacted and practiced. It does not exist simply in the academic institution; theory must transcend the textbook or article and pervade the mind of the scholar. It cannot stop here, however; a feminist must take to the streets. Without activism and community outreach, theory has no place to go.

     I have taken this understanding of the importance of activism and become involved with clubs and organizations on campus. I joined UCF’s chapter of VOX, Voices for Planned Parenthood, which got me involved in numerous projects and other campus-related projects. I got my first glimpse of the nearly unbearable frustration that can occur while participating in activist events while phone banking for Planned Parenthood against a Mississippi bill to illegalize abortion. I spoke to many people who had opposite and infuriating viewpoints of my own, and who were very resistant to hearing what I had to say. In another instance I was accused, over the phone, of being a Jewish lesbian, which hit strangely close to home.

     As upsetting and startling as these experiences were, they taught me some very valuable lessons. I learned that one must be patient and understanding and inoffensive, even in the face of the most trying combatants. I also got my first real glimpse of the ignorance, judgment, and opposition from anti-feminists I would be up against in the world. On top of this, it secured in me the absolute vitality of continuing my investigation into women’s studies, both on an academic, scholarly level and through more activism. Throughout this semester my goal will be to learn as much as I can, from the texts I read, from my peers, and from my own personal experience.

Word Count: 515

I have read and understood the syllabus, and I understand the commitment I have made as a member of this class.