On Tuesday, an anti-choice group came to campus. Members were offering DVDs with a cryptic "180" logo on their cases, the contents of which were not in any way mysterious or new. The film presented itself as a documentary, interviewing people on the street about their views on abortion.
There are almost as many viewpoints on abortion as there are people. While I reject the idea that another person should be able to take away my right to have an abortion, I respect those people who would not have an abortion themselves.
However, this film takes a quick turn for the bizarre - the interviewees are asked if they have ever heard of Hitler.
If you remember the so-called "Genocide Awareness Project" that set up shop on campus a few years ago, you may recall grotesque images and insulting signs proclaiming that legal abortion was tantamount to the Holocaust. You might remember how these signs did not respect your intelligence and bombarded you with misinformation in the hopes that you would make a snap judgment about an important issue based on emotion alone.
This film sets up an illogical argument where the right to a safe, legal abortion and the unfathomable human tragedy of the Holocaust are portrayed as one and the same. In the film, those who speak positively about the right to abortion are associated with neo-Nazis and other infuriating people.
Not only are these claims absurd, but they are also offensive to survivors of the Holocaust and their descendants. It is also offensive to the 70,000 women a year who die worldwide after being forced to seek out unsafe, illegal abortions in countries where the procedure is not legally allowed. Abortion is at least 10 times safer than childbirth. Despite efforts to make abortion appear more dangerous by associating it with breast cancer, sterility and mental health issues, repeated studies have shown that these claims do not hold up to scientific scrutiny.
Having worked with Planned Parenthood and women's health clinics locally and nationally, I can tell you that the decision to have an abortion is not taken lightly. The women who cross a line of shouting protesters to access a service allowed to them by law have not made a snap decision.
Once they arrive at the clinic, they are still counseled on all of their options, including bringing the fetus to term, adoption and abortion. Should they decide to have an abortion, they are carefully exercising their right to choose. They have that freedom because our nation trusts women to make their own decisions about their own bodies.
I don't know about you, but I think that this right falls under the heading of "unalienable."
Rosemary Daniels is a psychology senior at UF.
