After passing through the Val atrium and seeing the sign that read, "I heart babies," my thoughts, needless to say, were not directly focused on dinner. I couldn't understand how it was possible that I was pro-choice: For, paradoxically, I too enjoy a good baby now and then. Yet such confusion is felt by millions of people across this country who become ensnared in the conservative lexical web. Indeed, choosing the paragon of adorability, the child, over Constitutional Rights , is almost as difficult a choice as deciding whether or not to have an abortion.
Sitting down to eat I could not help but notice the purple table tents labeled with tiny baby feet and a silouhette of a mother holding her child. These table tents also advertised the "open discussion of abortion," a discussion which only included the Amherst College Feminist Alliance and the Amherst College Republicans. The table tent at first conjured thoughts of disgust similar to the "I heart babies" sign, but it was during this period of rumination (the thinking kind not the chewing kind), I realized that the Republican advertisements might not be just disgusting, but also positively brilliant.
It seems that Republicans have framed the abortion debate on their own terms, terms which cast abortion proponents in a very negative light, and terms which Democrats have not fought back against. Pro-choice advocates never have posters with "I heart babies," or the shadowy image of a mother tossing her child, Republicans have beaten Democrats to them and now they are using them to their advantage in a big way, creating categorical statements that denounce Democrats and liberals as baby haters. Perhaps Democrats were scared away from the child imagery by earlier Republican ad campaigns employing the use of aborted fetuses and statements such as "freedom of choice?" It's a good thing newer Pro-Life ads are so much classier. Yet this new found gloss is simply the same radical ad campaign in a new less shocking form, one which can be digested by many more people.
Additionally, by framing the debate in such a way, the Republicans have limited the extent to which their own "open discussion" can live up to its title; an ad campaign which creates a categorical choice between loving babies or a woman's right to choose both makes it an undesirable event for those who have to make such an uncomfortable decision, but also creates an environment unconducive to open discussion. Furthermore, the College Democrats were not formally listed as part of the "open discussion." How can such a discussion be considered legitimate when the primary liberal group of students on campus is not formally invited to participate in the dialogue? The answer is simple: it cannot be. Republicans have avoided speaking to the substance of the abortion debate by creating a new method for promulgation of their mantra, one which does not involve such up front shock value. Perhaps the most emblematic example of this circumvention is the "Third annual Vigil for Life, a moment of silence for all victims of abortion," also advertised on the Pro-Life table tent. Such a publicity stunt ignores entirely the liberal position on abortion, one which holds the life of the child in the highest regard, the position which evaluates the ability of the child to be provided for, loved and raised with the care that both Republicans and Democrats would want. It ignores the fact that the decision to have an abortion is an agonizing one, regardless of your political leanings and one not made up of two criteria alone: the love of babies versus the appreciation of constitutional rights.
As I dropped my tray off I could not help but think about the table tents and posters that I had spent my lunch looking at, visualizing the upcoming "open discussion" and its lack of a liberal voice, and the prayer vigil on the Freshman Quad. Leaving Val I imagined the discussions that have been prevented by these ads, the animosity generated by them and the thousands of women who are not recognized as victims of abortion.
Dykens can be reached at
adykens08@amherst.edu