Publication Date: Wednesday, June 16, 2004
Guest Opinion: Media indifferent to growing anger of women's civil-rights movement
Guest Opinion: Media indifferent to growing anger of women's civil-rights movement
(June 16, 2004) by Diane Rolfe
The American mainstream media seems indifferent, underreports and in some cases is eerily silent about the growing anger that is fueling the women's civil-rights movement.
This anger saw full expression in the April 25 "March for Choice" in Washington, D.C. The newspaper headlines don't read: "Women Soon to Lose Their Civil Rights If Neo-Conservatives Retain Power."
This could mean 51 percent of this nation's population being denied control of their bodies, family planning choices, quality child care, and a fair and compassionate welfare program for working women -- among a myriad of burning civil-rights issues.
On April 25, 1.15 million women marched in the largest demonstration in the history of Washington, D.C. They marched for more than just the right to have a legal and safe abortion. They marched because they were angry and determined to stop the erosion of their and their children's liberties.
Planned Parenthood Mar Monte, based in San Jose, estimates that 400 women and men, mothers and daughters got on planes and marched
To find out what is fueling this underreported civil rights movement, I asked seven local women who marched to share their thoughts and experiences
Stanford student Anne Friedman marched on her 21st birthday, with family and friends. Her mom, Kristina Kiehl, was a co-founder of Voters for Choice with Gloria Steinem. She shared her 21st-birthday cake after the march with Kathleen Turner, Madeline Albright, Maxine Waters and other celebrities.
"I marched for women's lives," she said. "I marched because, as of today, only 13 percent of all counties in the U.S. have abortion providers. I marched because coat hangers hold no meaning for women of my generation. I marched because the Bush administration is systematically trespassing on a woman's right to choose. I marched because I don't want my children to have to."
Councilwoman Judy Kleinberg of Palo Alto marched: "In the early '70s I wrote a law-review article about the legal battle over women's rights to medical privacy and control of their bodies." A cousin's need for an abortion in the early 1970s, after exposure to measles, personalized Kleinberg's awareness -- "the excruciating experience ... of going to three different hospitals before one would grant her the abortion."
Supervisor Liz Kniss of Santa Clara County, formerly on the Palo Alto school board and City Council, marched: "As a new registered nurse in a 1960's San Francisco hospital, I took care of young women who were not able to end a pregnancy without review by a panel of M.D.s who had to determine mental instability before a pregnancy could be terminated, regardless of the reason.
"The surgery was done late in the evening, essentially in the dark of night. For all who remember back-alley procedures, or quick trips to foreign countries for those who could afford it, giving up choice is not an option."
Cantor Kay Greenwald headed one of the most organized groups from Silicon Valley: 23 individuals from Congregation Beth Am in Los Altos Hills marched as an act of religious faith and justice.
"I do not love crowds," Cantor Greenwald recounted. "I don't love red-eye flights or spending entire days propped up by caffeine and adrenaline. But April 25 was one of the most inspirational days of my life. So many people, so much time, so much effort, so many hard-earned dollars spent just to get there. But we can make a difference. We can make our voices heard."
"People of faith were well represented," Jane Marcus of Congregation Beth Am recalled. "The African-American minister who leads the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice articulated the message of our group and many others: The Right Wing does not own religion. People of faith who care about families were there to support the belief that every child should be a wanted child."
Cherie Half of Beth Am articulated a universal belief of all the marchers that the media coverage was biased.
"Reviewing the coverage of the March for Women's Lives, it struck me that there was no mention of the faith groups' participation. Why was that left out of the reporting? Why are people of faith only mentioned in regard to anti-choice stances and not when they stand for women's safe access to reproductive health choices?"
Friedman of Stanford also felt that "This incredible experience was soured by the lack of press it got afterward."
Congresswoman Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto, marched: "American women have fought for decades for the right to control their own health decisions, and that right, affirmed by the Supreme Court, is now being attacked and eroded by purposeful and dedicated opponents."
The intensity of marching arm-in-arm with a million plus people from all walks of life, all races and religions, students to senators, movie stars to teachers, left an indelible mark on participants.
Kleinberg summed it up: "The march was a defining moment -- a drawing of a line in the sand -- to send a message to our government that the separation of church and state must be protected from the erosion we are seeing, and that women and the men who love them will not, ever, give up our right to control our bodies.
"If the government persists in trying to erode that right, the multitude of women and men who value freedom and personal privacy will rise up and revolt against it .... There is no going back."
Is America listening? Their words spring from an eternal well of human hope: the pursuit of justice and civil rights.
Diane Rolfe is a retired history teacher at Jordan Middle School, and is social action chair for the American Association of University Women, Palo Alto branch. She can be e-mailed at onedianerolfe@comcast.net.
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