There's more to choice than Roe.

A LOT OF CRITICISMS HAVE BEEN LEVELED at the reproductive rights movement for its inability to incorporate and attract support from young people. To give young women and men a stake in the movement, we need to expand the definition of reproductive rights and choice. We need to begin thinking of choice as the umbrella and incorporate into our language and actions the other social and human rights issues that many young people are equally passionate about: HIV/AIDS, freedom from violence, health care, GLBTQ issues, racial equality, peace, poverty, environmental justice and access to education including comprehensive sex education. These issues are intrinsically linked in the minds of youth and the movement of the future needs to reflect this.

For us, the reproductive rights movement is not just about preserving Roe v. Wade. To many young people, including me, Roe is the cornerstone of the movement--something we can all rally around in times of need. But the movement also deals with other aspects of reproductive rights and health--issues like contraception, access to services and comprehensive sex education. These are just as important as preserving Roe. Our battle against restrictions such as parental notification, 24-hour waiting periods, abstinence-only education and the bans on specific methods of abortion also need as much attention as Roe does.

The movement needs to learn from those who have done well in involving young people. There are several excellent examples of programs that work: the Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance campus program, the Pro-choice Public Education Project's media campaigns created by and geared towards young women, Advocates for Youth and its messages of respect and responsibility for young people and the annual From Abortion Rights to Social Justice conference organized by Hampshire College's Civil Liberties and Public Policy Program. The existence of organizations like these is the reason I am active in the movement. They decided early on that young women's ideas are important and integrated the issues that we care about under a framework that we could shape.

Young people need to be involved in every aspect of the movement, right up to the decision-making level. New campaigns and activities have to take into account the perspectives and realities of young people so that the ideas and images developed in the future resonate with us, giving us greater impetus to shape a movement that we can call our own because we will have to run it, and live or die by its successes and failures.

JENNIFER HEITEL is a Communications Associate at CFFC. She founded and was president for two years of the George Washington University campus chapter of the Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance and is a member of the Pro-choice Public Education Project's Young Women's Leadership Council.