The Marquee Room of the Madison Civic Center, 211 State St., holds 200 persons, and at Wednesday night's presentation by the Never Go Back Campaign the audience flowed into the hallway. Those in attendance listened to speakers Dr. Dennis Christensen, a Madison abortion provider, and Eleanor Smeal, president of the Feminist Majority Foundation.
\The turnout was excellent,"" said Leesa Coble, publicity manager for the campaign. ""I can't believe people were spilling out into the hallway, and protesters outside are always a good sign.""
The meeting began with an introduction by Lauren Besser, vice president of the UW-Madison chapter of the National Organization for Women and a UW-Madison junior.
""While working on the 2000 election I kept expressing how important the issue was going to be, but people seemed to not listen because we have a pro-choice majority. Now they have to realize we are in danger of losing that,"" Besser said.
According to Christensen, there's no reason abortion should become illegal because there are enough women in the nation who are pro-choice. Those women just need to become active.
""Right now there are plenty of upcoming trained professionals to provide abortions. However, no doubt those doctors will be hard to find if abortions become illegal,"" Christensen said.
Following a short film titled Never Go Back, Smeal began her speech with background showing that, while 70 percent of the population wants abortion to be legal, the same majority does not present itself in the U.S. House of Representatives or the U.S. Senate.
""We would be irresponsible if we didn't use the safest tool we have to save the lives of the next generation,"" Smeal said. ""We want [our legislators] to know now, we can't wait until the nomination.""
Smeal also said the United States may have a high abortion rate because doctors' visits and contraceptives are expensive and sometimes difficult to obtain.
""Many women have died in the past due to illegal abortions and still every year 70,000 women die in developing nations because of botched abortions,"" Smeal said.
Many students who attended the event said they felt the issue is something they need to strongly consider.
""I needed to get a different perspective on the issue. I don't necessarily consider myself for or against legal abortions but I needed to understand the pro-choice side,"" UW-Madison freshman Mike Duffy said.
