Students are not finished with the debate of taking abortion out of the insurance plan.
Just because a BG News reporter says the fight is over doesn’t mean that those in opposition are defeated. We were labeled “complain[ers]” by Ms. Kem, but we’re fighting for a cause, standing up for our rights and acting to have our voice heard.
Many are not listening, such as Glenn Egelman, director and chief physician at the Health Center, who says he’s only heard one student complain.
I’m a member of the opposition force that has been organizing a “coalition for change.”
Our attempts to stop this may have hit one barrier, but we are not finished.
We’ve collected hundreds of signatures from students and gotten letters from faculty, staff, campus groups, state and national organizations. We have been in contact with many public officials at all levels of government who have been supportive.
We organized a rally for March 13, but we may be too late. A closed-door meeting will occur with the Board of Trustees to decide the final outcome on Friday. We’ll attempt to have the Board hear our voices. If the board does not wish to open their doors to the students they serve, we will take further action.
The USG Web site does not have the Resolution or the voting record of the senators. The Health Advisory Committee has not made it available for students. The abortion policy itself would have been ignored had students not brought it to the forefront for debate. The University continues to pull the wool over our eyes and we are not going to stand for it.
Schools including the University of Connecticut, University of Massachusetts, University of Virginia, Ohio State University and many others have similar plans. They do not have abortion coverage, and their programs are successful.
Why must students be forced to be part of something that is against many of their religious views, when as easily, and more cheaply, it could have been left out?
Your University leaders are not listening to you. They aren’t giving you the information. Your Board of Trustees is having closed-door meetings and your student newspaper is denouncing this fight for change as a mere one-student “complaint.” What else aren’t they telling you?
Mike woodall UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT
