Do Young Women Care About Reproductive Rights? Ask One.

Newsweek published a story offering a summary judgment that young women and young feminists aren’t interested in protecting reproductive rights. Maybe they should have asked us.

Some awesome excerpts from the story by Sarah Kliff:

“Keenan considers herself part of the “postmenopausal militia,” a generation of baby-boomer activists now well into their 50s who grew up in an era of backroom abortions and fought passionately for legalization. Today they still run the major abortion-rights groups, including NARAL, Planned Parenthood, and the National Organization for Women.”

First of all, this is a huge problem right there -– that young feminists are kept out of leadership in large organizations, and then are criticized for lack of involvement.

Another excerpt:

“These leaders will retire in a decade or so. And what worries Keenan is that she just doesn’t see a passion among the post-Roe generation-at least, not among those on her side. This past January, when Keenan’s train pulled into Washington’s Union Station, a few blocks from the Capitol, she was greeted by a swarm of anti-abortion-rights activists.”

Second, the article reveals a distinct bias toward national-level organizing. Young women (and men, by the way) all over the country are involved in LOCAL efforts to protect choice. We escort on the weekends, talk to our friends about choice, give presentations in hostile classrooms, and use the internet to raise awareness and money for abortion funds.

One of my favorite moments being a prochoice activist this past year was my effort to change the story about Abby Johnson, the PP director in my town who quit and joined the Coalition for Life. That effort resulted in Texas Monthly and the Texas Observer interviewing me and writing stories that question Johnson’s story.

Then there was the great moment when we organized a prochoice rally on Texas A+M campus with a bunch of Aggies (shoutout to NOW aggies!) and community members. We were harrassed, but we loved every moment of standing up with our provocative signs (e.g. Aggies for choice, support planned parenthood).

Another great moment in reproductive activism was a couple months ago when a high school student in town contacted me about escorting at our local Planned Parenthood clinic. She was assigned a “service project” for her political science class and despite the extremely anti-choice nature of this town, she decided to volunteer at PP. While we were escorting together, she told me that she had to lie to her mom about where she was going, because her parents wouldn’t approve. She knew that she would have to present her project to her anti-choice class, but she didn’t care. She was willing to stand up for choice and for women.

Young women are doing amazing work for reproductive justice in this country. Which Newsweek and NARAL would know if they talked to us more.

Third, the article also brings up the question for me about what is counted as activism and which of our contributions are valued. If the only activism that counts is how many people donated to NARAL, well then young feminists without a lot of money are going to be absent from that conversation. And if the only thing that counts is showing up to a rally in D.C. which also takes money, young feminists may be absent there too. But what about those who made it to the rally against Stupak in December, the Bowl-a-thons for choice taking place across the country this week, or the online blogging, tweeting, and facebooking for reproductive rights?

It sucks to get criticism from people who are supposed to be on your side. It sucks even more to think that the hard work we do everyday doesn’t matter enough for us to be interviewed by Newsweek. Sign a petition here to get Newsweek to write a story including young women’s voices.

This post originally appeared on Fair And Feminist. Republished with permission. Want to see your post here? Email us!