Through off-campus rallies in Saratoga Springs, New York City and D.C., the “I Have Sex” campaign, and an on-campus lecture from speaker, Sally Williams, Director of Public Relations for Planned Parenthood of Minnesota, South Dakota and North Dakota, Skidmore has made it clear: we stand with Planned Parenthood. Her Campus Skidmore conducted a survey of over 100 Skidmore students and found that an overwhelming majority (93%) of students supports Planned Parenthood. 2% of the survey-takers do not support the organization because of its abortion practices, 5% said they do not know enough about the issue to reply, but want to learn more, and no one said that they are indifferent.
Skidmore senior Emily Zahn got involved when she began a 30-hour per week internship at Family Planning Advocates of New York State as a part of her senior capstone project in social work. Having tabled on campus for the cause, organized a bus to a rally in New York City, and helped produced Skidmore’s “I Have Sex” video, Emily’s work has put her at the forefront of the issue and given her insight into what this federal funding ban would mean for the lives of women and families across the Capital Region. “Many women use Planned Parenthood as their primary healthcare provider because our clinics are able to offer services on a sliding fee scale. This is due to the federal funding,” she said.
“Planned Parenthood is a valuable resource for people of all ages to seek help and advice when pursuing sexual endeavors,” Megan Mosier, President of Skidmore’s Christian Fellowship Club said. “While I might not agree with every single thing they do, they’ve helped millions of women by providing services like cancer screening, birth control, counseling for pregnancies, testing and treatment of STDs, and sexual education. If you ask me, that’s sounds pretty important!”
Amy Bergstraesser, President of Skidmore Democrats, agrees. “Planned Parenthood is an integral part of American health care, a place where lower-income women can go for necessary tests and procedures,” she said. “It is clear that Republicans in Congress are not just anti-choice, they are also anti-woman’s health. I would tell the Republicans in Congress to represent the health care needs of their constituents.”
Planned Parenthood & Politics: The Government Shutdown Scare
On April 8, the government avoided an anticipated shutdown when President Obama offered a compromise to cut government spending by $38 billion over the next year. The House voted to accept the budget deal, but continued to hold their position against providing federal funding to Planned Parenthood. “However, we do not doubt that we will be facing these issues again very soon,” Emily said. “I would suggest that each and every member of Congress become current on all statistics concerning Planned Parenthood services.”
Both Amy and Emily pointed to the misconceptions about abortion services that Planned Parenthood performs. On its website, the organization writes that 97% of its services are preventative health care measures, while 3% are abortion services. Emily described the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits organizations from using federal funds for abortion services. “This means that this entire ‘debate’ is based around something that simply is not true—that federal money is funding abortion,” Emily said.
Both Emily and Amy stated that perhaps some of the misconceptions derived from Arizona Senator, Jon Kyl who announced that 90% of Planned Parenthood services are abortion services.“This is a complete and utter lie. According to Planned Parenthood, abortions only constitute 3% of what the organization does and no federal money is used for these abortions,” Amy said. In our survey, we found that 57% of students think that 3% of Planned Parenthood’s services are abortions, 29% think the services comprise of 14% abortions, 14% think that 52% of Planned Parenthood’s services are abortions, and none believe that 90% of its services are abortions.
The “I Have Sex” Video Campaign
“Honestly, I feel that sex is a big part of college life, and I’m happy that people are making the responsible decisions of using condoms, birth control, etc.,” Megan said. Thanks to Skidmore’s contribution to the “I Have Sex” campaign, we found out that Megan is right: Skidmore students have sex—or at least their friends do. The video was inspired by a grassroots movement among students at Wesleyan University who came together to speak out against the decision by the U.S. House of Representatives who voted in February to bar federal funding for Planned Parenthood.
The Skidmore “I Have Sex” video was created before the aversion of the government shutdown, when a potential threat to bar Title X family planning funding was still a real possibility. Title X is a piece of the Public Health Service Act that provides families with access to family planning services including contraception options and information.
“When I saw Wesleyan’s video I knew that Skidmore had a chance to be heard,” Emily said. “Our video proves that Skidmore students take these attacks personally and that we are not going to stay quiet.”
Word about the video and the message behind it traveled quickly across campus and an outpouring of support by the students followed. The video shows students from a variety of backgrounds, ages and social groups in different spots on Skidmore’s campus holding up signs with a variety of messages including: “I have sex”; “My friends have sex”; “I get tested”; “I use birth control” and “Athletes have sex.” “Overall, people seemed to find it fun and funny to be saying such personal things into a little Flip video camera. When the video came out many of the people in it re-posted it showing that they were proud of their advocacy,” Emily said.
Even one of Skidmore’s comedy groups, Dizzy People’s Comedy, parodied the video in support of Planned Parenthood. “I love the ‘Marvin Has Sex’ video!” Emily said. “I know all of those Dizzy Peoples boys from doing theater throughout our four years here, so I knew to take it as a compliment that they were going to parody our video. And, of course, Max Resnik is both a member of Dizzy Peoples and our editor for the ‘I Have Sex’ video. Their video is awesome because it allows the message to come through in a much more entertaining way.” Watch the parody here (It’s HC Skidmore approved!):
Skidmore’s Voice
Approximately 160 students participated in the videos. In fact, watching and reposting the “I Have Sex” videos was one of the most widespread forms of support for Planned Parenthood on Skidmore’s campus. Emily described the February rally in New York City, where more than 70 Skidmore students attended, as “extremely empowering.” Another rally in Saratoga Springs prompted passing cars to honk in support of Planned Parenthood.
Emily also spread the word that students should call Congressman Chris Gibson’s office to voice their opinions. “They received a huge number of calls,” Emily said, ”showing me that Skidmore students really do care about this issue.” In addition to the venues of activism listed in our survey, several students also contacted their hometown representatives in Congress, and signed the online petition to save Planned Parenthood.
The Planned Parenthood controversy, Amy, Emily and Megan would argue, has captivated the Skidmore community unlike any other recent issue. “I think the Skidmore community has been very responsive to the Planned Parenthood controversy. The usually apathetic campus has taken up the challenge to save federal funding of Planned Parenthood,” Amy said.
Megan echoes Amy’s sentiment about the community. “I feel like it takes Skidmore a while to get riled up about an issue, but this very quickly turned into a campus-wide dialogue,” she said.
“There were articles in The Skidmore News, there were students going to rallies in New York City and D.C. I’ve watched the video on YouTube that was made in response to the threat of funding being pulled, and I thought it was magnificent. I’d say if you’re questioning where Skidmore stands, go and watch it.”
Emily thanks the community, students, faculty and staff included, for their support in this effort. “Since January there has been such an amazing outpour of support from the Skidmore community in general, but specifically Skidmore women. We have done so much in the past few months and we cannot slow down. Everyone should feel empowered and ready to keep fighting this fight until it is completely over!”
While an institution hardly ever unanimously agrees, Skidmore has spoken out this spring in tremendous support of Planned Parenthood. Voices like ours are what saved Planned Parenthood and continued to protect millions of women in the country from lack of medical care. That impact is a lesson that activists like Emily hope all students will take with them after graduation.
For more perspective on the Planned Parenthood debate, check out Her Campus Rhodes‘ take on the two sides!
Planned Parenthood Should Be Federally Funded
Planned Parenthood Should NOT Be Federally Funded
Sources
NYC Rally Photo courtesy of Casey Baird
Cover of The Skidmore News courtesy of The Skidmore News