While women’s reproductive rights remain in the spotlight of modern political debate, a group of ASU students visited Capitol Hill to lobby for contraceptives and other family planning measures.
Of the 200 national student representatives, 40 ASU students participated in the trip. Family and human development junior Bailey Wendelberger said she wanted to help families on a global scale with the nonprofit organization Population Connection.
“I wanted to participate in a movement that is growing larger in numbers and more visible every day, and do something that can change the world for the better with a focus on women and families,” she said.
Wendelberger said pro-choice activism is inaccurately understood by pro-life activists.
“What a lot of people seem to think about pro-choice people is that they're anti-life; it's quite the opposite,” she said. “We want every woman to have the choice to reproduce when she wants and if she wants so that every child is a wanted child that is able to live a happy and healthy life.”
Psychology junior Anne Mattson said other countries should have access to family care.
“It is obviously something we are granted a lot of privilege and access to in America, but when I saw what Population Connection is doing overseas, I thought that it was really important for developing nations to participate economically and educationally in other nations,” she said.
Working with students from other schools was an empowering experience, Mattson said.
“It was so awesome to mingle with people and talk to them about sexual health and other family-planning oriented things at their schools,” she said. “It was so inspiring to talk to people about their plans and what they want to see on their campuses.”
Mattson said Sen. John McCain’s staff was the most receptive.
“They took all sorts of notes and, though the meeting are pretty short –– about 15 minutes or under –– the McCain people talked to us for about 20 minutes,” she said. “They really wanted to make sure that the information we gave them go to McCain’s desk.”
Physical anthropology junior Julie Uhal said she wants to get more involved in politics after her D.C. experience.
“Even though I’m sure some offices weren’t receptive to what we were saying, I think that we still made an impact,” she said. “Just seeing all of those people who are so passionate about these issues even though I’ve never really been interested in politics before, it really inspired me.”
Uhal said anyone can have a voice in the government.
“I think it’s really important to get involved in the government, and now that I know how easy it is to lobby and talk to officials, I think it would be really cool to work for an organization in activism. I want to be more involved.”
Reach the reporter at aplante@asu.edu or follow her on Twitter @aimeenplante
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