Vanessa Rojas of Flint, left, and Jessica Hunt of Ypsilanti sit next to a tree on the lawn of the state Capitol waiting for a rally for better women’s health care rights to begin on Wednesday. The rally was sponsored by the American Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood Affiliates of Michigan.
Mary Siemon can’t afford to go to an obstetrician-gynecologist because her insurance won’t cover the costs.
“It’s been really hard to find a doctor where I could go for reproductive care and that’s a real issue concerning a lot of the women on campus and a lot of women back home,” Siemon said.
Yesterday, Siemon traveled from Central Michigan University with Voices for Planned Parenthood to advocate women’s health care rights on the lawn of the state Capitol.
The rally was sponsored by the American Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood Affiliates of Michigan. Planned Parenthood has held similar functions for the past four years, said Sarah Scranton, the organization’s executive director for Michigan.
Chen Wang, co-chairwoman of the MSU Women’s Council, said she got involved with the rally because she is an avid supporter of abstinence-plus education in schools.
“A lot of the language of abstinence-only education is very limited to a heterosexual, sexist view of sexuality and of marriage,” Wang said. “We believe that it’s important to make comprehensive sexuality education in schools and all over.”
Laura Godek, a member of MSU Students for Choice, said she decided to participate in the rally because it was a good opportunity to get the word out about legislators who will stand behind women, if elected.
“I think we definitely accomplished a lot of solidarity within pro-choice movements in Michigan,” Godek said.
“I’m hoping that the publicity from the event will spark interest in choice politics and show people that the McCain administration will not respect women’s reproductive freedom and will do nothing but roll back the clock on women’s rights.”
This year’s rally focused on educating the public about pro-choice legislatures and advocated for the inclusion of birth control in insurance policies and abstinence plus education in schools.
According to Planned Parenthood, women pay 68 percent more out of pocket than men do for health care, primarily because many employers’ insurance doesn’t include birth control as part of prescription coverage.
“We’re really trying to move forward prevention policies — policies that will increase access to family planning services, birth control and awareness to information and education so that we can make responsible decisions,” Scranton said.
Scranton added she hopes the rally created awareness about pro-choice candidates, which will ultimately lead to increasing their majority in the senate.
Advocacy groups from around Michigan participated in the rally, including organizations from Central Michigan, Wayne State University and University of Michigan.
“I thought the representation was really great — we have young people and older people, men, women, students and nonstudents — so it was very diverse rally,” Scranton said.
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