Menlo family 'Marching for Women's Lives' Menlo family 'Marching for Women's Lives' (March 31, 2004)

By Jessica E. Scott
Junior, M-A High School

On April 25, hundreds of thousands of people will be convening in Washington, D.C, to join the "March for Women's Lives." Groups such as Planned Parenthood Federation of America, NOW, Feminist Majority, and NARAL Pro-Choice America are among the leading organizers of this event, and have been joined by nearly 1,000 cosponsors.

I will be attending the March with my mother, Lisa Frederiksen Bohannon, who has long been a women's rights activist and a writer about a number of women instrumental in the movement; my sister, Kathryn Scott, a freshman at Menlo-Atherton High School; and two step-sisters, Maddy and Abby Bohannon, both sophomores at M-A.

I am a junior at M-A. I wrote for the M-A newspaper, The Bear Naked News, in 10th grade and currently am a co-editor of the News page.

People in support of the march go for a number of reasons, including: to support a woman's right to choose a safe and legal abortion, to support the widespread dissemination of knowledge and availability of the morning-after pill, to support the lifting of President Bush's "global gag rule," to support comprehensive sex education courses (not only those that teach abstinence only), to protect Roe vs. Wade, and to show support for U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer's "Family Planning and Choice Protection Act."

(The so-called global gab rule, signed by President Bush on his first full day in office, prohibits any organization receiving funds from the U.S. Agency for International Development from discussing abortion with patients.)

For me, a woman's basic right to choose and to control her own body is a driving force in my decision to attend this function, as I find it alarming that such a fundamental right is still under attack.

I am very excited to be able to join the hundreds of thousands who will gather to support such an important cause given that I've grown up learning so much about women who were and still are vital in the long and continuous fight for women's equality.

I want to make something clear -- I am not pro-abortion. I do not think anyone is pro-abortion. But given that for each woman the situation is different, we can never know what is best for her. Therefore, I believe every woman deserves the right to make that tough decision for herself.

If you want to show support for the march or learn more about it, you can pledge your support or find more information by going to the "March for Women's Lives" Web site: www.marchforwomen.org.

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