Walk for Life

When I was fourteen I took catechism classes at my Catholic church in order to prepare for my sacrament of Confirmation. Part of the preparation was learning about the religion as well as volunteering hours within the church. During catechism classes the teachers would offer volunteer opportunities for students. One that was regularly offered was a “Walk for Life” that started on the main boulevard of the city and ended in front of Planned Parenthood with protest signs. As a young girl without any sexual experience or knowledge, I didn’t quite understand why this was even happening. I remember a fellow student explaining to me that they were protesting abortion. I knew what abortion was. “Ok,” I thought. “That seems noble enough.” However, I didn’t take part in these walks because I had other volunteer opportunities that were easier than going to publicly protest someone’s rights.

Only three years later I went to this Planned Parenthood to receive birth control and free medical screenings. Two years after that I supported a friend on her first trip there. Upon arrival she asked me why the building was locked up and why patients had to be buzzed in. I told her that people often protest out in front of the building and harass patients or workers. She simply laughed at the irony as she said, “I used to do that with my church.”

It seems wrong to me to gather a group of young naïve teenagers and use them as an army to protest something they have not yet understood or made their own opinion on. Many of those protestors ended up pregnant from lack of sexual knowledge or later went to Planned Parenthood to get assistance. I can think of several girls who were raised Catholic as I was but found their own views on sex, contraception and abortion. As shown in Jessica Valenti’s If These Uterine Walls Could Talk chapter, conservative groups often use manipulation to keep teenage and adult women from the control of their body. In the case of the churches in my area, teen girls were asked to participate in a protest of something that was not explained or explored.