It was hard to miss the chalkings done by Northern Right To Life Sept. 25. Most of them were about the development of the fetus in the womb. Some of them were quotes, the most notable of which said, “If it is not a baby, then you are not pregnant.”

Of course, all of these look at abortion as an issue of the rights of the unborn.

But what about women, particularly women’s rights?

Women still earn 76 cents to every man’s dollar, and women are still underrepresented in higher paying management positions and in the fields of engineering and construction.

And for some Americans, it is still an accepted myth that a woman’s place is in the home, not in the workplace. Yet we have a group of women here on campus who is working to turn back the clock on women’s rights.

Men are still accepted as the breadwinners in our society, and older white males still make up many of the political bodies making this country’s policies. If abortion is totally banned, then it is unlikely to affect the rich, white and oldermen who will never be pregnant.

Should, heaven forbid, one of their daughters get pregnant, then paying a doctor a large fee to quietly perform an illegal abortion would not be a problem for them.

However, it would be a problem for a poor woman, who works two jobs to make ends meet, if she got pregnant because of rape. Her rights are the ones being violated.

So, in seeing these chalkings regarding abortion, my question is this: if men got pregnant and had to bear the pain and possible medical complications of childbirth, would there even be a debate about whether abortions should be legal?

Or would there be a health clinic in many communities offering free abortions?

Benjamin Oldham junior biochemistry major