Pro-Choice Mobilization: Signs of the Times

Their t-shirts said it all.

From one woman in the v.i.p. section who sported a "Blind Lesbians from Hell" logo to another with the starkly-lettered slogan "Alaskan Fisherwomyn for Choice," it was the clothes that made the "Mobilization for Women's Lives" last Sunday afternoon in Washington.

The clothes and the signs, that is.

Carried by the young, the old and the in-between, the signs were perhaps the one truly creative outlet in what was otherwise a made-for- media series of speeches and visuals.

"My body is not an incubator," one jean-clad woman declared with her hand-lettered sign. Her male companion, wearing what seemed to be the preferred preppie apparel of the day, enthusiastically waved a placard asserting his right not to choose whether a woman should have an abortion.

When a reporter asked him about his stance, his only response was, "My sign says it all."

And perhaps that would be a fitting motto for many of the others in Sunday's crowd of 150,000 or 300,000--a number which, as with just about every march ever held, depends on whether or not you believe the National Parks Service's estimate or the rally organizers' figures.

The signs said many things--about diversity, about individual rights, about politics. And they said many contradictory things, too-- "Catholics for Choice" signs rested alongside pleas for "Not the Church, Not the State, Women Must Control their Fate."

But still, many of those "mobilizing" in Washington were not too convinced about the actual diversity of the crowd. "I feel like more of a visible minority here than I do on a daily basis--and that's pretty bad considering I go to school at a place where I am a distinct minority," said one woman from New York.

Those concerns were played out among the Harvard delegation as well. After traveling together for more than 18 hours back and forth on seven cramped buses, men and women alike expressed much dissatisfaction with the homogeneity of the group which coalesced at the capital.

Not surprisingly, the most vocal expressions of this concern came from men, the only truly visible minorities at the mobilization.

Many men from the University said they were disappointed that the pro-choice movement continues to peg the issue as a women's issue only.

"To call it a women's issue trivializes it," one Harvard male participant said. "It's something that affects all of us a hell of a lot."

"I don't think there are too many men in this country who haven't been faced with the situation of being very young, having no money, and having a girlfriend who thinks she's pregnant. What do you do--especially if the choice has been made for you by the government?" another young male asked.

But the consensus among most Harvard participants was that the percentage of males and other minorities who did attend seemed to exceed that of April's march, and that, at least, was encouraging.

"It's good to hear all of the different groups get heard, and to know that there is a common ground that we can all stand on," one participant said.