Anti-Abortion Journal Released

In an effort to promote more progressive anti-abortion views, the Harvard-Radcliffe Progressive Alliance for Life (HRPAL) yesterday released the first issue of its new semi-annual journal, Liberating Options.

Executives of the the magazine, which is funded by the Undergraduate Council, said their journal concentrates on how the government can render abortion unnecessary through social legislation. In addition, journal executives said the magazine relies on legal principles--and not religious tenets--to support HRPAL's stance on abortion.

Officially, HRPAL is dedicated to preserving life, which it says begins at conception. But HRPAL does not have a unified stance on abortion restrictions.

Julie M. Hanlon, a Divinity School student who contributed to the journal, said the magazine frames the progressive anti-abortion viewpoint in a liberal, feminist context.

"The view [of HRPAL] is that progressive legislation should offer alternatives to the pregnant woman, in the form of prenatal care and other programs," Hanlon said. With such programs, she said, fewer women would turn to abortion.

Hannah K. Vorwerk '90, the journal's co-director, said HRPAL is different from mainstream antiabortion groups because it focuses on society's responsibility to deal with unwanted pregnancies.

`A Burden on Women'

"Abortion laws today are structured so that they place too much of a burden on women," said Vorwerk. "Other people and programs should help to share this burden."

In fact, several executives said their differences with mainstream anti-abortion groups was what prompted them to start the magazine. George Cassidy '90, who is treasurer and secretary of Liberating Options, said the journal's main purpose was to "tear down the stereotypical pro-life position that is usually advanced by the media."

And Nicole M. Smith '92, the journal's editor, said the journal's writers deliberately tried not to raise the same arguments that other anti-abortion groups have voiced, in an attempt to promote more open-minded debate.

Journal executives noted that while HRPAL members agree that life begins at conception, there is no consensus on the issue of government restrictions on abortion.

An 'Extreme' Position

Vorwerk described the Supreme Court's position on abortion as "extreme" because it allows abortions as far as six months into pregnancy.

This policy, coupled with a lack of social and economic programs for women with children, often places too great a burden on women, leading them to have abortions when other alternatives should exist, Vorwerk said.

"Our society tells women that they can have the child if they wish, but if they do, they will most likely be financially burdened," said Vorwerk. "There aren't enough programs that help out the woman in such a situation, and thus the woman usually chooses abortion. In West Germany, for example, social programs help to lessen the burden placed on women."

Journal members emphasized that there is no connection between the simultaneous releases of Peninsula, a conservative student journal which promotes an anti-abortion stance, and Liberating Options.

"We would like to keep the two very separate in everyone's mind," said Vorwerk.