The Rocky Mountain Collegian

Media Credit: Mike Marquard Mike Marquard/The University News Pro-life, pro-feminist Sally A. Winn addresses students on Wednesday night, in the AB Auditorium. Winn said that many women have abortions because society leaves them with few other options. [Click to enlarge]

"Feminists for Life? Are you just trying to tick everyone off?"

Sally A. Winn said this is one of the many responses she receives when people hear about her pro-life, pro-woman stance. Vice President of Feminists for Life and mother of two "budding feminists," Winn emphasized the pro-life nature of feminism in her speech on Feb. 23, "Refuse to Choose: Reclaiming Feminism."

"Pro-life feminism is not an oxymoron," Winn said. Feminism grew out of a concern for the basic rights of all human beings and emphasizes "nonviolence, nondiscrimination and justice for all," she said.

To demonstrate this point, she quoted several of the first feminists-women who fought for suffrage, such as Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Elizabeth Blackwell and Alice Paul. Paul summed up the pro-life sentiments of her feminist contemporaries when she said, "Abortion is the ultimate exploitation of women"-a statement with which Winn wholeheartedly agrees.

Winn described how the agenda of second-wave feminists of the 1960s obscured the pro-life vision of these first suffragists. Denouncing Roe v. Wade as a degradation, rather than an emancipation, of women, Winn claimed that abortion is not about women's desire to control their bodies. Rather, she said, abortion is an indication that pregnant women feel they have nowhere else to turn. According to Planned Parenthood statistics, the top two reasons for women to have abortions are lack of financial resources and lack of emotional support.

"We refuse to choose between women and their unborn children," Winn said. "We deserve better. Abortion is not a solution; it's a symptom of the problem."

The problem, she said, is that many women have abortions because society has provided them with few other options. She pointed to the lack of child-care and maternity programs as indications of society's failure to meet the needs of women. Suffragist Mattie Brinkerhoff said, "When a man steals to satisfy hunger, we may safely conclude that there is something wrong in society-so when a woman destroys the life of her unborn child, it is an evidence that either by education or circumstances she has been greatly wronged."

Winn challenged women to demand changes in society. "If we work together, we can systematically eliminate the root causes that drive women to abortion," she said.

Having been faced with an unexpected pregnancy in college herself, Winn holds the issue of pregnant college students particularly close to her heart. One in five abortions is performed on a college student, she said. For this reason, Feminists for Life concentrates on providing better support systems to pregnant college students.

"We want to make abortion more than just illegal-we want to make it unthinkable," Winn said, leaning eagerly over the podium. "We want to make it so that no woman is ever in a situation that she feels forced to turn to abortion."

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