Pitt Planned Parenthood rallies in support of Affordable Care Act birth control clause

Under gray skies and the bare trees of the William Pitt Union lawn sat bright orange boxes… Under gray skies and the bare trees of the William Pitt Union lawn sat bright orange boxes filled with 2,500 cups of Ramen noodles stacked on top of each other around a table.

Atop the table, a petition to support the Affordable Care Act’s birth control clause flapped in the wind.

Pitt’s chapter of Vox, a student-outreach program sponsored by Planned Parenthood, spent $600 to bring the Ramen noodles to the lawn. Group members said the dollar value is equivalent to the amount of money the average American woman pays out of pocket annually for birth control.

Friday, President Barack Obama announced a compromise concerning birth control insurance coverage. The original language of the Affordable Care Act would have compelled all employers to provide birth control, a stipulation that came under fire from the Catholic Church, which wanted to be exempt from having to pay for contraception for its employees.

Obama’s new plan wouldn’t require religious organizations to provide contraception free of cost. Instead, it would spread the cost over all policy holders.

Abby Mundell, founder and president of the Pitt chapter of Vox — which means “voice” in Latin — said that it’s important that students know how health insurance is affecting their everyday lives.

“College students should have a voice — need to have a voice,” Mundell, a junior, said.

Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania contacted Mundell and her chapter on Wednesday to suggest that they hold their rally on Friday to demonstrate to students — primarily female students — what they could spend their money on if they didn’t have to pay for birth control.

Mundell and her vice president saw that a group at Ohio State University had used Ramen noodles to make the same statement on Wednesday.

Rebecca Cavanaugh, 31, of Swissvale and the Western Pennsylvania Planned Parenthood, said that she was excited about students’ involvement in the rally.

“It’s a pretty big deal. Think of all the stuff that you could buy with $600,” Cavanaugh said.

Signs, taped to the boxes of Ramen, said: “$600 can buy a lot of textbooks,” and “Heck yes, I use birth control.”

About 15 members of Pitt’s Vox chapter and supporters of the group held signs at the corners of Fifth Avenue and Bigelow Boulevard to entice students to check out the rally, take a free package of Ramen noodles and sign a petition to show their support for the Affordable Care Act.

Junior Megan Cichon, a psychology and film major, stood at the corner of Fifth and Bigelow with a sign that read, “Birth Control with no copay? Yes, please,” in black, cursive lettering.

Freshmen Conor Walsh was drawn to the display.

“We saw all of the orange, and we were like, ‘What’s with the noodles?’” he said.

Upon hearing the news of the Affordable Care Act’s birth control clause, Walsh’s friend and fellow freshmen Alex Riggan spoke in support of the bill.

“It sounds like a win-win-win situation. I learned something, and I got a cup of free noodles,” he said.

Sophomore Brianna Mosley, a communications major, saw the demonstrators’ signs and chose to walk over and sign the petition.

“I think that everyone should have the choice to have it or not,” Mosley said.

But Catholic employers think they should have the choice to decline to pay for contraceptives, which the Church has always maintained are immoral.

Senior Jeremy Paff, president of the Catholic Newman Club at Pitt, said that he could not support the bill’s amended version either.

Paff said that the compromise would force “material cooperation” on the part of the Church because the cost for the Catholic employees’ birth control would be spread out over all policy holders, meaning the Church would still indirectly pay for birth control.

“The foundation of our argument is that … this would be forcing us to act against something we believe to be right,” Paff said.