Anti-abortion supporters have been protesting outside of abortion clinics as part of the 40 Days For Life campaign since Sept. 26.The demonstrations have spurred responses on-campus from Vox, the UVM chapter of the Planned Parenthood students group dedicated to educating the UVM community about reproductive justice.In reaction to the protests, Vox has started 40 Days of Choice, a campaign through which students express pro-choice sentiments with photos on Facebook.The purpose of 40 Days of Life is to protest abortions and access to birth control through 40 days of vigils, prayers, fasting and protests. Many protesters have camped out outside of Planned Parenthood, a federally funded organization that offers services for womens health.The protests have been a clear form of bullying and harassment, said Jill Krowinski, director of Vermont public affairs for Planned Parenthood.While demonstrators are allowed to protest, they cannot be within 35 feet of the Planned Parenthood building.Krowinski stated that the distance between protesters and the clinic is a buffer zone [that has] created a safe space for patients. Sophomore Jess Fuller, a member of Vox, explained the creation of 40 Days of Choice, an initiative designed to express students differences in ideas surrounding womens health.To counter the 40 Days for Life campaign, our chapter decided to go into our community to collect varying rationales and present [the] diversity of opinions and experiences that make up our cause, Fuller said. We decided to do a campaign to visually illustrate our diversity.The 40 Days of Choice campaign features pictures of students and staff holding signs reading, I Stand for Choice. Pictures also include a sentence of rationale behind the statement, such as: Women have the right and ability to make health care decisions for themselves. For more information about Vox and the campaign, visit www.facebook.com/Voxatuvm.

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Anti-abortion supporters have been protesting outside of abortion clinics as part of the 40 Days For Life campaign since Sept. 26.

The demonstrations have spurred responses on-campus from Vox, the UVM chapter of the Planned Parenthood students’ group dedicated to educating the UVM community about reproductive justice. 

In reaction to the protests, Vox has started 40 Days of Choice, a campaign through which students express pro-choice sentiments with photos on Facebook.

The purpose of 40 Days of Life is to protest abortions and access to birth control through 40 days of vigils, prayers, fasting and protests. Many protesters have camped out outside of Planned Parenthood, a federally funded organization that offers services for women’s health. 

“The protests have been a clear form of bullying and harassment,” said Jill Krowinski, director of Vermont public affairs for Planned Parenthood.

While demonstrators are allowed to protest, they cannot be within 35 feet of the Planned Parenthood building. 

Krowinski stated that the distance between protesters and the clinic is a “buffer zone [that has] created a safe space for patients.”  

Sophomore Jess Fuller, a member of Vox, explained the creation of 40 Days of Choice, an initiative designed to express students’ differences in ideas surrounding women’s health. 

“To counter the 40 Days for Life campaign, our chapter decided to go into our community to collect varying rationales and present [the] diversity of opinions and experiences that make up our cause,” Fuller said. “We decided to do a campaign to visually illustrate our diversity.” 

The 40 Days of Choice campaign features pictures of students and staff holding signs reading, “I Stand for Choice.” Pictures also include a sentence of rationale behind the statement, such as: “Women have the right and ability to make health care decisions for themselves.”  

For more information about Vox and the campaign, visit www.facebook.com/Voxatuvm.