The event's organizers wanted not only to remember the significance of Roe but also to address women's rights issues that still exist. "While we think it is always important to commemorate Roe v. Wade as a significant Supreme Court decision that articulated a woman's right to make decisions about her own body, we believed it was more important than ever to draw attention to this issue this year, given the fact that reproductive rights remain under intense attack," said Barbara Sieck '05, one of the event's organizers.
Tia Subramanian '05, another student involved in planning the event, explained the goals of the event and the issues that she hoped it would address. "The first was to be a celebration of the rights we currently have, which are so valuable and in our minds, so basic," said Subramanian. "We also wanted it to be a politically energizing event, since celebrating rights that are being eroded away every month would have meant ignoring the real state of things."
Sieck detailed the myriad of activities that took place before and during Thursday night. "We wanted to make this a multifaceted event. Because we wanted to stress that people must remain informed and active, we created a political action campaign with a lot of information on all sorts of reproductive rights issues and the opportunity to sign petitions and write letters to our representatives," she said. "We also recognize the importance of fundraising, which is why we asked for a suggested donation, sold buttons and bumper stickers and had a raffle with prizes from eight incredibly generous local businesses."
The possible challenges to and limiting of the ruling in Roe were motivation for the event's organizers to incorporate fundraising and political elements into the celebration. "There's so much to be done to preserve and build upon Roe, and instead we're going backwards," said Subramanian. "That was why we wanted a solid fundraising aspect to the event, as well as information for people to learn and means of action they could take."
Sieck said that the event drew a large crowd which led to a successful fundraising campaign. "The event was an absolute success. We had nearly 75100 people come. While most were Amherst College students, there were many Five College students, and a few professors and community members," she said. "We raised over $450."
The Feminist Alliance will divide the proceeds between a local organization and a clinic in Mississippi. "Half will go to Tapesty Health, a local organization that has been providing reproductive rights to the Pioneer Valley for several decades," said Sieck.
"The other place we decided to send it to was Jackson Women's Health Organization in Mississippi, which is the only abortion provider in that state," said Subramanian. "The state has restrictive laws on who can provide and who can receive an abortion, and the clinic there is always under threat and in constant danger of being shut down."
Dr. Diane Amsterdam, a local ob-gyn, was the keynote speaker. "It was important to hear from someone who is serving women by providing this option, and it was great to hear how many questions were asked," said Sieck. "And finally, we wanted to have a celebration, which included dessert, wine and a great jazz band. The fun aspects of the evening partly served as an incentive for people to come, but also, we believe that it is important to recognize the freedoms that we do have and celebrate their meaning."
Sieck and Subramanian hoped that the event would help to get young people involved with this issue. "The event wasn't targeted more specifically to one group than to another, but it definitely is something that we wanted college students to be involved in," said Subramanian.
Subramanian added that older people were important guests in order to provide the younger generation with important information. "It was also really interesting, though, to talk to adults who had lived through the time when abortion was illegal and they knew people having dangerous procedures that often resulted in injury or death," she said. "I think I tend to forget how real and recent that time was-despite the continued actions of the Bush administration, the idea of women not having the right to an abortion or access to proper health care and means of contraception is still unfathomable."
Attendees of the event seem so agree that the issue is incredibly important and that the event was an appropriate way to bring attention to the current state of abortion rights in the U.S. Scott Niichel '06 attended the event to support an issue he thinks is important and in critical danger. "I went to the Roe v. Wade celebration because I am worried-worried about the future of civil rights in general, and worried about the threatened status of abortion rights in particular. Part of me still cringes every time I see a coat hanger button. The issue is so enormous, but this one symbol alone ought to be enough to convince anyone," he said. "The members of AFA did a terrific job organizing it, and I think it was well-attended."
Fellow attendee Toni Cook '05 emphasized the importance of a woman's right to choose. "I'm not an outspoken feminist, and I'm not a member of the AFA, but it's important to protect a woman's right to choose and fight against the efforts of a Republican government to take away that right," she said.
Linden Karas '06 was pleased with the event's ntended message. "The Celebrate Roe party was an outstanding event! Not only did it give the Amherst community a chance to celebrate women's reproductive rights, but it reminded us of the important rights that are increasingly threatened by our government," she said. "My newly purchased bumper sticker says it all: Against abortion? Don't have one!"