Patricia Heaton, a two-time Emmy-winning actress and New York Times best-selling author, is best known for her role as Debra Barone on the CBS sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond. Now, Heaton is playing a different role: honorary chairwoman of Feminists for Life.
The pro-life, pro-woman organization recently conducted a nationwide survey that revealed a lack of options and information for unwed mothers on college campuses, leaving some women to think their only option is abortion.
Heaton spoke to Family News in Focus about the work Feminists for Life is doing to educate unwed mothers about the life-affirming options available at their schools.
1. Why did you decide to become a pro-life spokesperson?
The community in which I live and work — Hollywood — is a very liberal community, and it’s harder for people to hear a message which is based on someone’s religious beliefs. Feminists for Life approaches abortion from a secular but holistic approach, meaning taking in the whole package of what’s involved when a woman and her partner find themselves in an unplanned pregnancy.
2. Why do some women think abortion is their only option?
(Our) studies and research show — and this research has been done also by the Guttmacher Institute, the research branch of Planned Parenthood — that women have abortions for economic reasons, mostly because they feel they are not able to sustain another person on their own. They feel they are going to be abandoned by their families, rejected by their partner, thrown out of their workplace, forced to drop out of university if they’re in college.
3. Do you find that colleges push women toward abortion rather than life-affirming options?
At universities, there is a slant toward abortion; some universities even pay for abortions. One student at UCLA wanted to test that theory and went to the health clinic and recorded what the head nurse told her: “Everybody here has abortions. There’s nothing at the university that can help you if you decide to have your baby. Pro-life people make my job a lot harder.”
I believe Planned Parenthood and other abortion clinics have targeted their clinics around colleges.
4. What about Christian universities?
(At Pepperdine), most students said, “Because it’s a Christian college, we felt we could not be pregnant, and if we were that we should have an abortion.” And that’s part of the issue — not being supported by a Christian community because you’ve made this mistake.
Pepperdine has been very responsive. They’ve been great in addressing it and making sure students know there is help available and they would be supported.
5. How is Feminists for Life working to address this problem?
We try to go after those root causes of abortion.
We help students find out what their college will support, if there is housing for pregnant students. Can they telecommute? Are there places to change diapers? Is there child care? A lot of these things would make a difference. We’re trying to (make sure) every university provides these options and that the information is available to students and faculty.
It’s sometimes a difficult line to walk because we don’t want to be seen as encouraging students to have … sex or get pregnant, but the fact is so many women get pregnant and have an abortion at college. We want to provide students with the access they need in order to go through their nine months of pregnancy and either place their baby for adoption or raise it.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Learn more about Feminists for Life and how to start a chapter on your college campus.
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