6The Daily Tar HeelThursday, April 5, 1990
Pro-choice rally in the Pit expected to attract much support
By CHRISTINA NIFONG
Staff Writer
It's a pep rally for choice. It's a
celebration inviting students and other
concerned citizens to listen to speakers,
see the stars and register to vote.
On Friday, April 6, the pit will be
brimming with onlookers, and if all
goes as planned, these onlookers will
become on-doers, working to keep
abortion legal in the United States.
This rally is being held to let people
know that being pro-choice is impor
tant, said Polly Guthrie, chairwoman of
Activating Awareness for Choice and
Equality (AACE). "Elections are com
ing up," she said. "We want to encour
age people to vote."
AACE is an independent student
organization, started last year, that
focuses mainly on women's rights ac
tivities. Guthrie said it had a mailing
list of 250 people which included men
and women, students, faculty and staff.
AACE is co-sponsoring the rally with
the Hollywood Policy Center (HPC),
an organization of people in the enter
tainment industry who work on social
justice issues, said Margery Tabankin,
a board member of the HPC.
"It's Hollywood's response to the
country. We wanted to show that Ronald
Reagan wasn't all that Hollywood had
to offer," she said.
According to Tabankin, the HPC has
the power to do things that are different
because of the nature of the institution.
By networking celebrities, it can be
helpful to people working on issues at
the grassroots level.
"We have the ability to communi
cate with America," Tabankin said.
Directors of television shows like
"China Beach" and "thirtysomething"
work with the center, organizing people
to go on the road. The center also has a
research facility that investigates and
keeps on top of various issues.
The HPC gives support to student
groups, letting them know that their
actions matter. Tabankin said, "We want
to make it known that if you care about
choice, now's the time to speak up."
AACE and the HPC joined when the
policy center decided to conduct a
specific campus tour to eight college
campuses to raise voter registration.
Tabankin said the HPC received re
quests from campuses all over the
country, and they chose UNC mainly
because of its active student group.
Guthrie said another reason the rally
will be here is that North Carolina is a
political hotspot for the abortion issue.
The rally will allow students an
opportunity to fill out pledge cards to
send to their congressmen stating their
stance on abortion. If Congressmen
know how their constituents feel, they
may change their agenda, Guthrie said.
Charlie Duncan, an advance person
from San Francisco, will accompany
the stars on this tour. Duncan works on
political campaigns in California and
on the national level; his most recent
client was Michael Dukakis.
"When celebrities are involved in a
public event, it gets complicated,"
Duncan said.
He has also worked with other pro
choice groups, and he says he will not
work for an anti-abortion organization
or a candidate that he does not believe
in. "You can't work as hard as we do on
anything unless your heart's in it."
Rallies like these are important to
Duncan because he can help lend a
voice to student organizations, he said.
"Student organizations are popping up
every day," he said. "It's important to
support their efforts."
Duncan said celebrities are powerful
tools and positive forces that help to
increase awareness, especially for those
students who may be on the fringes of
an issue. "They have power because of
their notoriety," he said.
The goals of the rally, he said, were
to excite people, to influence them to
join student organizations and to get
them to vote. The celebrities are a key
part in attaining these goals, because
momentum builds in the days before
the event, climaxes during the rally and
leaves memories of the event behind.
Mary Sheriff, faculty adviser for
AACE, said she hoped that through the
rally, students would learn to play ac
tive roles in society. "Don't sit back
and let others decide for you argue
for a certain point of view. That is what
this system is all about."
She said that AACE was on an edu
cational mission, and she wanted stu
dents to know that the cumulative ef
fect of everyone working together gives
them power. Her message is: Your vote
does count, don't feel insignificant.
Anti-abortion activist Mary Lou
White said she was afraid students
would get caught up in the charisma of
celebrities. "I hope people continue to
really think about the heart of the is
sue," she said.
White worked as director of client
services at Pregnancy Support Serv
ices for four and one-half years and
now is active in the DurhamChapel
Hill pro-life network. She said that al
though she knew of anti-abortion ral
lies in the past, she tended not to get as
involved with them because they were
often political. Her opinion on abortion
is not political, she said.
White participates in 'sidewalk
counseling,' which she described as
talking to women as they go into clinics
and giving them information about
abortions and alternatives.
She usually chooses clinics where
there are no picketers because women
going into clinics are scared, and pick
eters make them feel threatened, she
said.
Demonstrators outside clinics are
trying to get a message across, she said.
They are saying, 'Look what's going
on; this is wrong.' They are there to
educate the public and to raise aware
ness. She added that picketing is not help
ful because it boils down to the fact that
two groups are working out their con
troversy at the expense of the women
they are trying to help.
"I've seen behavior on both sides
that I don't feel good about," she said.
"I don't like it when people stand out
side of clinics and yell: 'Murderer,
murderer, murderer!' That's not help
ful." But when an escort yanks anti-abortion
literature out of women's hands,
that's harassment too, she said. "I've
been pushed and hit. Things get tense."
White said if women wanted to talk
and she offered help, that is not harass
ment. "If a woman says no I say
okay."
Karen Kolbinsky is one of the six
people that started New Beginnings, a
crisis pregnancy center in Hillsborough.
She said it started last year and is a
place for girls who are pregnant and
feel hardship. It offers anything needed
for a newborn baby: housing, clothing,
cribs and emotional support.
It is not an organization established
to protest, but it does not prohibit its
members from protesting. Kolbinsky
said her husband was more active in
protesting, while she writes letters and
editorials. "We pray a lot. We're aim
ing at changing attitudes," she said.
Harassment is not something that
Kolbinsky said she endorses in any
way. "That is not what I believe is a way
to reach people." Demonstrations at
clinics that she has seen involve anti-
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abortion activists praying, singing and.
holding up signs.
She has experienced some harass ;
ment, though. "People call us names,'
curse at us; someone tried to run us
down in their car," she said.
"My goal in protesting is to bring
attention to the fact that there are inno-'
cent human beings being murdered
I know what abortion is; I've seen
aborted fetuses," Kolbinsky said.
She said many girls did not know
what they were doing when they had an
abortion. "They don't know what'
inside of them until they see an eight
week child in the womb." It has hands
and feet, she said.
Guthrie said, however, that the bur
den of harassment is on the anti-abortion
demonstrators. She has escorted
women at clinics and been called a
Satan worshipper. "We did not engage
witli the protesters at all," she said.
She said trying to get people to change
their minds after they have made a
difficult decision is the worst part of
clinic demonstrating. "It's completely
indefensible."
Picketing is not harassment, Guthrie
said. It is an expression of First Amend
ment rights. "But they don't just picket,"
she said. Making women feel evil and
sinful for their decision is not an effec
tive way to voice your disagreement,
she said.
Duncan said, "Anytime you get
together (members of) one side of a:
emotional issue, you are bound to have
people from the other side. There could
be an incident. But this is our window
our time to talk."
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