On Tuesday, about 50 students and teachers stopped by a H*yas for Choice table in Red Square to guess the number of condoms in a large jar. The game was one of many activities, from a pro-choice panel discussion to a sex-education trivia night, that H*yas for Choice has sponsored this week as part of the second annual Choice Week at Georgetown.
“Choice Week is really just to get the idea of choice out there,” H*yas for Choice board member Heather Brock (COL’ 10) said. “And to let people know that we’re not crazy baby killers.”
The theme of the week, “to defend and redefine choice,” was emphasized by Nicole Cramer (COL ’08) during Monday night’s pro-choice panel.
“Pro-choice is not pro-abortion,” Cramer said before introducing the panel. “I don’t think anyone is pro-abortion.”
The panel speakers included individuals from Population International, the Center for Health and Gender Equity, the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health and Spiritual Youth for Reproductive Freedom. The speakers focused on how to help individuals both within and outside the U.S. who lack adequate sexual health services and protection. Discussion ranged from the use of female condoms to the implications of having a Republican or Democratic presidency.
“HFC is interested in far more than abortion rights,” former H*yas for Choice member and recent graduate Julia Marter (COL ‘07) said. “The bulk of what we do focuses on reproductive health—helping Georgetown students make sure they don’t get STI’s or have an unintended pregnancy in the first place.”
Tonight, H*yas for Choice will collaborate with the College Democrats to show the movie Jesus Camp, which explores the political role of Evangelical Protestantism.
“We try to join up with other groups that are legit because we don’t get funding,” Brock said, explaining that because the University does not recognize or fund H*yas for Choice, attempting to show a movie and provide pizza is difficult without the help of another student organization.
Despite the lack of University funding, many H*yas for Choice members are pleased with the success of Choice Week so far.
“For the most part, the University administration has been very hands-off,” H*yas for Choice board member Greg Baltz (SFS ‘10) said. “I would say this year’s Choice week has been more successful than last year in terms of positive responses from students and event attendance.”
According to Baltz, members from Georgetown’s Right to Life group also attended the H*yas for Choice panel, and tape recorded it, although only for “personal edification,” according to GU Right to Life President Caitlin Barr.
“Obviously, we disagree with some of the sentiments expressed during the week,” Barr said. “But this year’s choice week doesn’t seem to be focused really at all on abortion, more on sex-ed and contraception and we don’t really take a position on those sort of things. We get pigeonholed about just being about abortion too, when we actually are against the death penalty, euthanasia and stem cell research as well, and I sympathize with [H*yas for Choice’s] desire to not be pigeonholed.”
“Even if certain days are better attended than others, we think it is important enough just to have Choice Week and for the student body to know that it is there for them,” Marter said. “And as of [Wednesday] our signs had not yet been torn down, and that is a plus!”
