2 - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, May 4, 2004
NEWS
200 'U' students march, rally f
women's rights in National Mr


By Farayha Arrine
Daily News Editor
Carrying signs that read "Real
sex ed. saves lives" and "Who
decides? It's your choice not
theirs," a group of University stu-
dents joined more than one million
women in Washington D.C on April
25 for what became the largest
women's rights rally in the nation's
capitol to date.
A number of human rights and
women's groups sponsored the
"March for Women's Lives," includ-
ing the American Civil Liberties
Union, National Organization for
Women, and Planned Parenthood
Federation of America.
Organizers said they wanted the
march to send a message to Presi-
dent Bush about the country's sup-
port of the reproductive rights of
women.
Former chair of the Michigan
Student Assembly's Women's Issues
Commission Ashwini Hardikar,
along with others, initiated the idea
for a University trip to the capitol
after gauging student interest on
campus.
Nearly 200 University students
gathered outside the Michigan
Union on Saturday evening and
took four buses to Washington D.C.
They reached the National Mall the
following morning and participated
in the four hour-long march.
"The experience at the march was
really incredible," said Hardikar, an
.RC sophomore. "It was really, real-
ly powerful for me."
Engineering sophomore Cori
White is a Washington D.C resident

and attended the rally with friends
from other colleges. She was
inspired to attend because her
friend's mother is involved with
Planned Parenthood - an organiza-
tion that promotes reproductive
self-determination.
"I have always thought that
choice is an important right for a
woman. You don't have to make that
choice if you don't want to, but it
should be available," she said.
White said she arrived at the
National Mall to find it packed with
"Our fundamental
right to privacy is
under serious attack
by this government."
- Anthony Romero
Executive Director of the American
Civil Liberties Union
people and speakers whose images
were projected on TV screens.
"We walked around D.C - sort
of around the downtown area. There
was a designated spot for people
opposed to the march. There was
police but no problems," she said.
Participants of the morning
march walked for two miles and
returned to their original point,
where an afternoon rally began,
headed by celebrities such as
Whoopi Goldberg. Speakers at the
event warned the current adminis-
tration that their anti-abortion poli-
cies would cost them the election in
the fall.
In April, President Bush granted

a victory to the pro-life side by
signing the Unborn Victims of
Crime Act. The law gives human
rights to embryos and fetuses so
that if a crime such as murder is
committed against a pregnant moth-
er, both the mother and the unborn
child are considered victims.
Pro-choice groups fear that giv-
ing human rights to embryos and
fetuses might advance the cause of
those who don't support abortion.
Hardikar said the goal the
marchers had set out with had been
achieved to some extent.
"It was a good first step," she
said. "I was impressed with the
number of young women and the
number of men that showed up to
support."
Pro-life protestors at the march
held signs discouraging women
from having abortions, often citing
personal regrettable experiences.
A Zogby poll taken in December
2003 showed that the majority of
Americans are pro-life. In the 18 to
29 year old age range, 52 percent of
those polled said they were pro-life.
Nonetheless, marches called for
the rights of women and the end of
government interference in the lives
of women.
"The government does not belong
in our bedrooms. It does not belong
in our doctors' offices," said Antho-
ny Romero, Executive Director of
the ACLU. "Our fundamental right
to privacy is under serious attack by
this government."
University students were able to
participate in the march through the
MSA's funding help as well as their
own fundraising efforts.

FOREST CASEY/Daily
LSA junior Crystal Ammori browses as the vendors pedal their novels and other
paraphernalia at the Ann Arbor Book Festival on April 24.
Fis okh lcomes to Ann Arbor

By Melissa Benton
Daily Staff Reporter
The sun shined brightly Saturday,
April 24 when the Ann Arbor Book Fes-
tival - the first of its kind in the city -
took to the streets. The street fair, which
was held in the area around North Uni-
versity Avenue and State Street, was the
heart of the book festival.
Organizers planned the book festival
out of a desire to spread their apprecia-
tion for literacy and to get people excit-
ed about reading.
"We wanted to celebrate the written
word, the spoken word, written lyrics,
the writing process and the way that

books change people and society," Exec-
utive Director Julia Dickinson said.
Thousands of books were sold at
booths sponsored by vendors from.
around the country. There were also
author readings, writing workshops and
children's activities for learning and
entertainment.
Dickinson said she was pleased that
the book festival incorporated people of
all ages.
"I'm excited that it was able to bring
together a lot of different people because
there are so many things in our society
that are so stratified," Dickinson said.
The book festival kicked off on
See BOOK FAIR, Page

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EN DI ESS

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