Welcome to the Students
For Choice Website!
Students for Choice is an official organization founded at the
University of British Columbia that promotes reproductive choice for
all women. All women should have the right to make informed decisions
about their reproductive health. No one should have the ability to
force a woman into any decision about her body or sexuality. Students
for Choice works with other groups on campus to provide information and
resources, and to organize workshops and protests, as well as acting as
a visible voice for choice when it is challenged. We are an
anti-oppression organization, and are therefore feminist, anti-racist,
and anti-homophobic. We are aware of the class issues surrounding
reproductive options and choice, and believe that all women, regardless
of income, should have the right to decide what happens to their bodies.
If you would like to subscribe to our mailing list, send an email here.
As always, hostile remarks and speculations on the afterlife experience
of the members of s.f.c. may be submitted to: trashbin@studentsforchoice.com
(Threatening emails are reported to the police and to the ISP of the
sender.)
Go to the: F.A.Q.
Go to the: News
News
February 26, 2006:
The Genocide Awareness Project will be at UBC this THURSDAY, MARCH 2ND, from 9 am to 3 pm . As usual, they will be set up in the SUB lower plaza, by the grassy knoll and the SUB. We will be there protesting the presence of this hateful, racist, sexist, and anti-semitic display, as well as protesting the university's continued silencing of our concerns and voices. Please come out and lend your voice to the protest. WE NEED YOU TO HELP US AFFECT CHANGE!!!
For more information on why we oppose the G.A.P., please read the F.A.Q. and the History and Arguments pages.
October 19, 2005:
Today marks the launch of a brand new national pro-choice coalition, the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada. The group will work towards improving access to abortion in all parts of Canada, as well as to tackle other issues surrounding reproductive rights. For more on the Coalition, visit their website at www.arcc-cdac.ca.
September 2005:
Welcome back to school, and to another year of pro-choice work at UBC. Please check back for updates on our activities for this year.
For news from 2003-2005, see the archives.
For a history of Students for Choice, see the history.
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F.A.Q.
What is choice?
Choice means reproductive choice. That is, a woman's right over her own
body. We believe that a woman has the right to know what all of her
options are, including: having a child, adoption, abortion, and birth
control. Pro-choice resources and organizations (such as Planned
Parenthood)Êwill provide a woman with every option, and allow
her to make an informed decision. We also believe that choice is about
providing the resources for every woman to access any option she should
choose, and for her society to support her in her choice. A pro-choice
society provides referrals, resources, and support for every choice a
woman might make.
We believe society should support and value its children by investing
in universal child care, prenatal care, public education, and social
services. Pro-choice is the empowerment of women, and the recognition
that an abortion is just as valid and necessary a medical procedure as
any other operation. Before abortion was legalized, many women died or
were injured in illegal, "back-alley" abortions; this was due to a lack
of choice. We affirm women's right to make whatever decision is right
for them -- motherhood, adoption, abortion -- and do not believe women
should be coerced or pressured into making any decision about their
reproductive lives.
What is anti-choice?
The anti-choice ideology, often misleadingly called the "pro-life
movement", is a system of restrictive beliefs regarding a woman's
autonomy over her own body and reproductive rights. According to the
anti-choice doctrine, a foetus is an "unborn child"Êthat is
killed through abortion. Through the use of dubious "scientific
evidence", anti-choicers attempt to show how foetuses are conscious
autonomous beings from the point of conception, despite the fact that a
foetus is intrinsically connected to the mother as long as it is in the
womb, and cannot survive (except in the latest stages of pregnancy)
outside the womb without external medical equipment.
The anti-choicers leave no room for extenuating circumstances in their
rhetoric. If a woman conceives through sexual assault, too bad. If a
woman is too economically disadvantaged to support a child and does not
want to go through an adoption process, too bad. If a woman would be
socially ostracized for bearing a child, too bad. Anti-choicers believe
that abortion is wrong, no matter what. Women have always had
abortions, and now there is a safe and legal means for abortions to be
performed, which both saves lives and empowers women. Anti-choicers
want to take that power away from women.
What is the Genocide Awareness
Project (G.A.P.)?
The g.a.p. is a satellite sent from the American-based Centre For Bioethical Reform, which parades around North American campuses. The Centre For Bioethical reform is an extreme anti-choice organization that is known for the g.a.p.: its travelling circus of oversized graphic full colour photos juxtaposing historical genocides with depictions of late-term aborted foetuses. For more information on the history of the g.a.p. at the University of British Columbia, please see our History page. We are opposed to the g.a.p. not only because they are anti-choice, but also because they are racist, sexist, and anti-semitic. For more information on these arguments, please go here.
Many abortion providers
have been shot/stabbed/killed by anti-choice fanatics. Does this mean
that all anti-choicers are fanatical and crazy?
No. While some anti-choicers are dangerous fanatics, the unfortunate
reality is that a large number of people who want to take away women's
rights hold political office, "respectable" social status, or interact
in our society. Several months ago, President Bush passed a law in the
United States re-naming the foetus an "unborn child". While this may
seem small, it indicates how threatened the rights of women still are,
and how we still need to raise awareness about pro-choice issues. There
are anti-choice groups (including the so-called "Center for Bio-Ethical
Reform", which is responsible for the Genocide Awareness Project) that
have more power, money, and influence than a lot of pro-choice groups!
The genocide awareness project
has a lot of graphic images of large-scale violence. What does that
have to do with abortion?
Nothing. For an extensive analysis of the arguments made by Gregg
Cunningham, the "brains" behind the Genocide Awareness Project, check
out Arguments.
I'm not a woman. Why should I
care about choice?
If you have ever known a woman who has had an abortion, or who has had
to make a difficult decision about her pregnancy, or if you believe in
women's rights, you should care about choice. For one perspective on
choice, check out Arguments.
I am a woman, but I never want
to have an abortion. Am I anti-choice?
The question isn't what you want to do with your own body, but if you
feel that you have the right to dictate what other women do. Would you
say "I am a woman who will never have an abortion, and I think other
women don't have the right to have an abortion."? Or would you say "I
am a woman who will never have an abortion, but I would never force
another woman to give birth to an unwanted child."? If you answered yes
to the latter question, you are pro-choice.
I want to help, but I'm really
busy with school/work. How can I find out what's happening with
Students For Choice? Do I have to commit to hours of work every day?
If you want to get involved, please email us at studentsforchoice_ubc@hotmail.com
You don't have to do anymore than you have time for. We'll be
organizing events throughout the year, and we always love volunteers.
Simply help with what you feel comfortable with/have time for. There
are many different levels of involvement, and we always love hearing
ideas on how to get our message out to the student body!
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