Real voices talk of reproductive rights 

Date : Thursday, March 11, 2004

Source : Akron Beacon Journal

Sticks and stones may break bones, but words are more effective.

Take Emily Lyons, for instance. She was maimed by a pipe bomb planted in 1998 at the Birmingham, Ala., abortion clinic where she worked as a nurse. Eric Rudolph, who also is charged with the 1996 Olympic Park bombing and two others, awaits trial.

''Prior to this, I did not feel like I was in a war. That has all changed. And, the war has not stopped,'' said Lyons.

Although it was intended to kill her, the violence committed against Lyons ultimately gave her a voice with which to fight the attack on a woman's right to choose her method of birth control.

It's a voice represented in playwright Cindy Cooper's Words of Choice, a dramatic patchwork pieced together with excerpts from a dozen real stories, including a father's reaction to the rape of his daughter, an anti-abortion activist's spoken-word piece, testimony from a mother who made the painful decision to have a late-term abortion, and a farcical contraceptive burrito marketed by Taco Bell.

''I wanted to create a work that could show the huge panorama of reproductive rights, not just abortion,'' said Cooper. ''I wanted it to reflect the full complexity of these issues.''

Words of Choicewill be performed at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Akron and at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Kent State University's Oscar Ritchie Hall.

Proceeds from the performances will benefit the Akron Coalition for the March to Save Women's Lives, who will use the money to pay travel costs for women traveling from Akron to Washington, D.C., for the April 25 march.

Deb Lumiere, the director and producer of the local Words of Choice production and a principal actor in it, sees current efforts to overturn Roe v. Wade and to legislate fetal rights as an immediate threat to women's rights, making this play a timely commentary.

''We lose focus of the whole point in pro-life vs. pro-choice arguments. This is not about abortion itself, and it is not an issue of right or wrong -- that is a personal decision. It's about who has control over your body, as a woman. It's about your legal personhood and the way it is defined by the law,'' said Lumiere.

In one of the play's more harrowing moments, a father recounts his decision to help his daughter get an abortion after she was abducted and gang-raped. By including such a voice, Cooper's play realizes that women's rights are not isolated to their direct effect on women, but that men, too, are part of the larger public discussion on reproductive rights.

''It was happenstance that I included a male voice,'' said Cooper. ''But I'm glad I did, because, especially among younger women, it's a positive reinforcement that men do care about women, and that we aren't divided by gender.''

Cooper spent three years collecting stories from spoken words, court testimonies, journalism, poetry and even comedy.

''It's theater's version of the reality TV show; that is what makes it effective,'' said Lumiere. ''And that it's coming from all these different places and different types of people. It creates a truer picture rather than having one little spin on it.''

<< Akron Beacon Journal -- 3/11/04 >>

Women’s issues highlighted in ‘choice’ production

Amber Hyland
Daily Kent Stater

Imagine taking a bite out of a burrito that works like the morning after pill.

The contraceptive burrito will not be the newest menu item at Taco Bell any time soon, but performers from Queen Bee Productions acted out the fictitious account from The Onion, a satirical magazine, in Words of Choice, a compilation of abortion rights theater pieces Saturday.

....The play included several works from oral history, theater, comedy and journalism. Besides including a piece from The Onion, performers depicted a father’s feelings after his daughter was raped and a woman’s confession after 14 years of sin.

“Theater, all art really, is our culture’s most accurate way to hold up a mirror to society and say, ‘Look, here is who we are, what we do to ourselves and what we do to each other. What will you do now?’” said Deb Lemire, the director of Words of Choice and founder of Queen Bee Productions.

The play gave the audience the opportunity to hold this mirror up to themselves, seeing how they view reproductive rights.

“It is important because college students have the most risk if their ability to control their fertility and make personal decisions about their reproductive health is limited by political and legislative agendas,” said Don Brighenti, director of development for Planned Parenthood....

“As each generation moves away from landmark decisions about contraception, family planning and abortion rights, the risk of losing those rights looms larger,” Brighenti said. “In the majority of young people, the ignorance about reproductive rights comes simply from the fact that they have always had those rights.”

[The money raised supports discounted rates for students to go to the March for Women's Lives.]

“Hearing the stories of real people always brings the humanity to an issue. It is a personal issue, and the current media climate doesn’t really allow for all perspectives to be heard,” Lemire said.

The audience had the opportunity to ask questions about the issues, the march or the play itself in a “talk back” following the play.

3-15-04