Global reproductive health and the rights of women were addressed by Vicky Markham of the Center for Environmental Protection, Annette Souder of the Sierra Club and Heather Anderson of Planned Parenthood in a Monday lecture. The event was part of the speakers’ tour of Connecticut colleges and was cosponsored by EON and Planned Parenthood of Connecticut.
Markham started the lecture with a discussion of the effects of overpopulation on the environment.
“We’re seeing a lot of evidence showing how humans are changing the Earth,” Markham said.
She outlined how individual and societal behaviors alter the ecosystem, explaining the specific effects that population size, resource consumption, and societal choice have had.
Markham chided the United States for not curtailing the negative environmental effects of its rapid increase in population. She noted that the United States is experiencing above average growth compared to most industrialized nations.
Markham discussed possible actions that can be taken to alleviate the strain human behavior has had on the environment. Among these, she suggested that greater efforts be taken to draw attention to family planning and reproductive health. In addition, policies should be enacted by the government to discourage polluters, she argued.
Souder spoke next elaborating on Markham’s discussion of family planning.
“We need to broaden the perspective of those who consider themselves environmentalists in the U.S,” Souder said of the need to convey the link between environmental deterioration and overpopulation.
The consequences of the United States’ pollution, Souder added, are not limited to its borders.
“We are the greatest producers of toxic pollution and most of it doesn’t stay in our borders,” she said.
Souder also discussed the numerous challenges facing family planning activists and the problem of enduring criticism from all ends of the political spectrum.
One the one hand, she noted, members of the religious right denounce her movement for advocating the use of contraceptives. On the other hand, she continued, liberals reproach her cause for what could be perceived as telling people how many children they should have.
“There was a time a few decades ago when even women’s groups didn’t want to work with the Sierra Club on this issue,” she said.
Markham added that sometimes they even face hostility from the very people they are attempting to aid.
“I had a lot of resistance because black Africans would tell me, ‘who are you to tell me the number of children to have or when to have them?’” Markham said. “’Here you are, a white person coming here telling us to limit our population.’”
Souder was confident, however, that such matters of public opinion could be overcome.
“I spent much of my career as a schoolteacher,” she said. “When you offer people information and access, they make smart decisions. We can’t be afraid to discuss these issues.”
Heather Anderson of Planned Parenthood made the final presentation of the evening. While Markham and Souder had briefly criticized the Bush administration’s handling of environmental and family planning issues, the majority of Anderson’s lecture focused on the shortcomings of President Bush’s agenda.
Much of Anderson’s displeasure arose from the Bush administration’s reinstatement of the global gag rule, which forbids clinics that offer abortions or abortion counseling from receiving foreign aid.
Anderson’s also criticized President Bush’s Global AIDS Bill, which allocated one third of the proposed funding to fight AIDS around the world to abstinence only education.
Although very few students attended the event, those in attendance expressed a strong interest in the subject matter.
“I am interested in how the Bush administration is deconstructing the progress that has taken women decades to attain,” said Caitlin Quigley ’08.
Global Intern and event organizer Johanna Goetzel ’07 said she felt the lapses in the White House’s policy needed to be addressed.
“The Bush cuts and global gag rule has restricted women’s access to information pertaining to reproductive rights,” she said. “It’s of the essence that we do something to change it.”
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