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TCU 360

TCU 360

All TCU. All the time.

TCU 360

Students discuss religious topics in a small group. (Photo courtesy of tcuwesley.org)
Wednesday nights at TCU’s Methodist campus ministry provide religious exploration and fellowship
By Boots Giblin, Staff Writer
Published Mar 27, 2024
Students at the Wesley said they found community on Wednesday nights.

Open-minds needed to discuss abortion, mediator says

The key to approaching a controversial subject is to create space in a conversation that allows for growth, said a public policy mediator Monday night.

Public policy mediator Susan Podziba’s speech revolved around her experience mediating talks between anti-abortion and abortion-rights activists in Massachusetts after shootings in two abortion clinics.

Podziba said even though students don’t have the luxury of facilitated discussions to talk about abortion like she did, they still learn something from the dialogue.

“Dialogue doesn’t solve the policy issues of abortion, but it does promote civil society,” Podziba said.

The program was the second in a three-part series about abortion organized by students on both sides of the issue, said Natasha Chapman, associate director for the TCU Leadership Center.

Podziba said the talks in Massachusetts began in 1994 after interviewing leaders from both sides of the topic.

“After the shootings, the governor and the Archbishop in Massachusetts were calling for the joint talks between the two sides,” Podziba said. “So, the director of the Public Conversations Project in Massachusetts and I said, ‘Let’s gives it a shot.'”

Podziba said it was a dangerous time to be talking about abortion in Massachusetts.

“We were meeting in a windowless room, mostly for fear of the threats that were being thrown around at us,” Podziba said.

The talks took place in secret for six years and not only involved dialogue between members of the two groups, but also activities designed to promote understanding, Podziba said.

“My favorite exercise was the hot-button exercise,” Podziba said. “We asked the woman participants to pick words that shut them down. Then we told them they had to have a conversation about abortion without using any of those words.”

Podziba said the results of this exercise showed that within each one of those hot-button words were certain negative codes and judgments.

“For me, the most important thing was to decrease the level of the violence within the rhetoric,” Podziba said.

Melinda Castro, a senior modern dance major and organizer of the series, said when she originally had an idea for an event, she pictured it differently.

“Originally, I wanted a feminist for-life program,” Castro said.

But when she took her idea to the Theme Semester committee for approval, the program started to shift toward more balanced dialogue, Castro said.

The most important aspect of this series, Castro said, is for people to continue discussing abortion after the programs are over.

The series continues tonight with a dialogue between Stacey Emick from Texas Right to Life and Laurie Felker Jones of National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League Pro-Choice Texas. The dialogue will be moderated by Chuck Dunning, director of TCU Transitions.

For Your Info

“Beyond Pro-Life & Pro-Abortion: A Dialogue on Abortion”
When: 6 p.m. today
Where: Palko Hall Room 130
Admission: free

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