Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, shared her hopes for the future of women's reproductive health care in the new Obama administration in a speech in Cabot Auditorium on Friday.
"There have been a lot of political highlights in my life, a lot of highlights this year … but nothing quite beats this Tuesday in Washington, D.C.," Richards said.
Despite the presentation occurring on a Friday night, students filled the auditorium, eager to hear from and converse with Richards. The turnout was indicative of the controversial and explosive nature of issues surrounding abortion and reproductive rights.
Richards' speech marked the 36th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the historic Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion in the United States on the basis of an individual's right to privacy. The speech was the first part of this year's "Issues of the Future Symposium" sponsored by the Tufts Democrats.
An engaging panel discussion on the future of gay rights took place on Saturday, as the symposium's second installment.
Richards, who founded and has served president of America Votes, an organization dedicated to increasing voter registration, is a self-proclaimed "political junkie." She began the lecture with several sobering anecdotes, reminding the audience that the status of women's reproductive rights in America remains far from certain.
"Margaret Sanger founded Planned Parenthood. Her mother died having been pregnant 18 times, and having 11 births," Richards said. "It wasn't even until 1965 that the Supreme Court ruled in [Griswold v. Connecticut] that married couples could use birth control legally."
Though Planned Parenthood was established decades ago, Richards said that the group continues to experience harassment from pro-life supporters. "Despite the right to a legal abortion, this has just been a controversial issue," she said. "Just yesterday, we had a man drive his car into our clinic in Minneapolis, Minnesota."
Many critics of the Bush administration allege that women's reproductive rights suffered under the previous president's watch.
President George W. Bush spearheaded abstinence-only education programs and reinstituted the Mexico City Policy, or "global gag rule," which prohibited the United States from funding any entity that provides information about abortion or abortion counseling. Former President Ronald Reagan had instituted the rule, which had later been reversed by Former President Bill Clinton. On Friday, less than a week into office, Obama also rescinded it.
"It's a sign to me that we're sort of rejoining the global community," Richards said, reminding the audience that the United States is "the only country in the world who withholds money from the United Nations family-planning organization for political reasons."
Richards also spoke about the ineffectiveness of abstinence-only education in public schools.
"Abstinence-only programs do nothing to delay the onset of sexual activity," she said. "In the U.S., the teen birthrate is going up. We actually lead the Western industrialized world in teen pregnancies."
"I think the ideal sex education talks about abstinence and relationships," she said. "Teenagers, they're trying to figure this stuff out … Every show that I've seen on TV — Gossip Girl, The O.C. — everyone is doing everything. Sex is everywhere except in the classroom."
The Tufts community has personally felt the effects of the last eight years, Richards said.
"Right here at Tufts, birth control prices have gone up. The prices skyrocketed under the Bush administration," Richards said.
She spoke about the pressing need for Obama's administration to appoint a pro-choice Supreme Court justice and to alleviate the deterioration of women's reproductive health care services.
"I think we have some pretty simple goals with this administration," she said. "Make sure every single man, woman and adolescent has access to reproductive health care that's accessible and affordable."
As the lecture drew to a close, Richards opened a question-and-answer session. Facing questions from pro-life supporters, Richards compelled students to remember the goals of Planned Parenthood. "The whole idea here, if you want to prevent abortion, the most effective way … is to prevent unintended pregnancies in the first place."
Senior Stephanie Abend enjoyed the lecture.
"I thought it was excellent," she said. "I also like that she stressed prevention, because that gets lost in the debate."
"The lecture was really interesting and Cecile Richards was a very engaging speaker," freshman Maya Kohli said. "It brought to light a lot of very important issues that are even more critical with the new administration."
Tufts Democrats President Doug Helman, a sophomore, said that Richards' down-to-earth, direct approach presented the topic in a new light.
"Something that struck me the most was how she just kept trying to hit the point home how women's reproductive rights shouldn't be a women's rights issue, but that it should be a health issue," Helman said.
The lecture was co-sponsored by Tufts Vox, a student organization that has led initiatives to reduce birth control prices and to place condoms in dormitories.
On Saturday, around 45 people turned out for a gay rights-focused panel that covered the future of gay marriage in the United States and of the gay rights movement in general, according to Helman.
Representatives of Mass Equality and the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachussets, as well as two Tufts students representing the Queer Students Association and the LGBT Center, participated. The dialogue was particularly pertinent in light of the recent passage of California's Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage, Helman said.
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Ben Gittleson contributed reporting to this article.
