[Written for Journalism 230 Media Reporting Class, September 2015]

KNOXVILLE, Tenn.— “Abortion is a reflection that we have not met the needs of women,” according to Serrin Foster, president of Feminists for Life.

Foster presented her speech “The Feminist Case Against Abortion” at the University of Tennessee on Tuesday evening.

“I want to tell woman here who have had abortions that I am not here to condemn you, to judge you or to criticize you,” Foster said. “I am here to free women from abortions by providing them with resources.”

Feminists for Life was established in 1972 in order to provide women with support and resources in order to decrease the number of abortions. The group cites the early feminists as inspirations for their mission.

Today, Feminists for Life focuses on problems that affect pregnant women like discrimination in the job market and educational institutions.

Foster said that three out of four women believe that having a baby would interfere with their work or education. The National Women’s Law Center found that pregnant women have been fired from their jobs for needing special accommodations such as extra bathroom breaks or stools to use behind cash registers.

“Women are not stupid because they are pregnant,” Foster said. “Women can still read, write and think.”

Foster argued that many women choose abortion because they do not want to burden other people with their problems. They are expected to go through with an abortion because they lack support systems and other resources that could change their opinions.

This differs from the beliefs shared by many feminists who believe that women should choose what they do with their bodies, according to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

University of Tennessee sophomore Alyssa Crow worked with Planned Parenthood to provide alternative information to Foster’s speech.

“Feminism should be all encompassing,” Crow said. “I think feminists should believe that women have the right to their own body and they should be able to choose whatever they want to choose.”

Foster said that 44 percent of abortions are performed on college-aged students. She also argued for programs at universities for pregnant students and mothers, citing the University of Tennessee as one of the best colleges in terms of resources provided to these women.

“It is important for campuses to start incorporating these resources,” said Mika Carr, a sophomore at the University of Tennessee. “Hearing that the University of Tennessee is a model for other universities in the country is the main thing I’ll take away from this lecture. Students aren’t made aware of those things.”

Foster said she believes rape and incest to be the most divisive issues in the abortion debate.

“We need to support those who were conceived in violence and even incest,” Foster said. “We can’t decide the worth of a person based on the circumstances of their conception.”

Health Research Funding found that less than one percent of abortions take place because there has been a rape or incest involved in the pregnancy.

Foster said that abortions are down 30 percent since Feminists for Life created their first program at a collegiate level at Georgetown University.