Anti-Abortion Group Targets UHS

The Alliance for Life, a student anti-abortion organization, is taking aim at University Health Services (UHS) for its policy of funding abortions.

Last night at Winthrop House the alliance gathered 52 letters from students asking for UHS abortion coverage rebates, according to Mark J. Barker '93, the group's president.

"We think it's an outrage that our money is used to fund the legalized killing of unborn children," Barker said.

Under university policy, students with moral objections to abortion may request rebates of their share of the annual cost of abortion-related services at UHS.

UHS medical coverage pays up to $275 for an abortion--which UHS does not itself perform--and also covers counseling and follow-up medical care.

The rebate comes to only $3.17, according to alliance member Geoffrey B. McGuire '95, but he said students do not generally ask for the rebate for financial gain.

"It's not so much that they want the money as it is a symbolic thing," McGuire said.

UHS officials could not be reached for comment.

Barker said the alliance plans to table at all house dining halls before Christmas. Mealtime efforts at Quincy House and the Harvard Union in the past two weeks netted 45 student rebate requests, McGuire said.

The next scheduled stop is Eliot House this Sunday.

The group also distributed antiabortion literature, including information on the Nurturing Network, a support group for pregnant women.

According to the network's brochure, the group works with universities throughout the country to help pregnant college students continue their education and bring their babies to term.

Schools belonging to the network facilitate temporary transfers for pregnant students wanting to keep their pregnancies secret.

"It's not a political organization. It just tries to help people," Barker said.

One of the alliance's goals is making Harvard a member of the network, Barker said, who added he has discussed the network with Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III.

Barker said Epps told him it was out of the dean's jurisdiction, directing Barker instead to David S. Rosenthal '59, UHS director.

Barker and other alliance members said they intended the tabling campaign to inform students that an anti-abortion movement does exist at Harvard.

Because of the strength of the prochoice movement on campus, said Brendan M. Murray '93, many students are not educated about the anti-abortion movement.

"The danger at Harvard is that because they don't see both viewpoints, they forget that both exist," Murray said.

"Given a chance to make our views clear, we feel confident that we can convince even the Harvard population of the intrinsic appeal of the pro-life position," McGuire said.

Barker said he believes many students are pro-choice simply because they do not have all the facts about human life.

"A lot of the problem with abortion is that people don't know that life begins at conception," Barker said.