The student news site of Marquette University

Marquette Wire

The student news site of Marquette University

Marquette Wire

The student news site of Marquette University

Marquette Wire

Vox voices veritable positions

We at Vox would like to congratulate Marquette for finally talking about sex and recognizing that there are multiple sides and views on reproductive issues. Vox’s primary goal is to foster dialogue about sexuality among students and as the debate in the recent weeks has shown we have been successful. To foster effective debate we feel that it is time to clarify some erroneous points made in previous Viewpoints.

Furthermore, over 95 percent of Planned Parenthood services are non-abortion related and serve to foster health and education. Of the 31 Planned Parenthood clinics in Wisconsin, 29 do not perform abortions and instead provide annual exams which include breast and cervical cancer screenings, STD testing, pregnancy testing and patient advocacy. What’s more, taking birth control is safe and there is clear scientific evidence that taking the pill reduces the risk of breast, ovarian and uterine cancers as well as protect against osteoporosis, acne and iron deficiency anaemia. Further, Planned Parenthood does not manufacture nor has it ever manufactured birth control.

Planned Parenthood is also a non-profit organization, and in the same tradition as Marquette follows, all excess revenue goes directly back into the organization in the form of clinic improvements, program growth and increased services and not into director’s wallets. While Planned Parenthood does have a budget that stretches into the hundreds of millions of dollars, it also has expenditures ranging from nurses salaries to clinic fees to medical equipment costs to educational resources that cost hundreds of millions of dollars to provide.

In Thomas Jensen’s Nov. 4 Viewpoint, a Ugandan program was cited as evidence of the effectiveness of abstinence-only programs in stopping the spread of HIV and decreasing the amount of sexual partners a woman has. What Jensen omitted to cite is that the program’s success lies largely in part because of its other aspect: condoms. Uganda has taken an “ABC” approach: Abstinence, Be faithful and use Condoms to stopping the spread of HIV.

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Moreover there is much Catholic support for reproductive freedom and education movements. According to the Associated Press, 90 percent of American Catholics consider condoms and birth control pills morally acceptable and 96 percent of all Catholic women who have ever had sex have used modern contraception methods at some point in their lives. Vox is actively seeking to address these apparent Catholic paradoxes. Please visit www.cath4choice.org for more information.

Marquette Vox and Planned Parenthood are here to promote the inherent respect and dignity of every person and to foster growth through dialogue and freedom of information. Vox looks forward to increased debate and awareness of reproductive rights. We invite everyone to a forum that is going to be hosted at Marquette on Nov. 24 that will debate these issues. Details from MUSG and other sponsors will soon follow.

If anyone has questions or would like to join Vox, please e-mail us at [email protected].

Dobrowolsky is a senior political science and international affairs major and is also MU Vox coordinator, a Planned Parenthood Wisconsin Public Affairs intern, and is writing on behalf of all MU Vox members.