Jane Seymour '10 joined the public debate over health care earlier this month when she stepped up to the podium at a Washington, D.C., rally organized to oppose the Stupak/Pitts Amendment to the health care bill.  At the December 2 rally, Seymour introduced student groups from more than 30 colleges and universities across the country. The students had traveled to the capital to lobby their legislators to oppose the amendment, which prohibits coverage of abortion in government-sponsored insurance plans.

Seymour said she had planned on going to D.C. with some other Haverford students to protest the amendment, when a representative of Choice USA called her to ask if she'd speak as a student advocate from a battleground state.

Seymour was a summer intern at Choice USA, a D.C.-based organization that helps college students develop the skills necessary to advocate for reproductive justice.  On her return to Haverford, she formed a campus chapter of the group.

Seymour became interested in medicine and its role in women's lives during the summer of her freshman year, when she worked at reproductive health care center in Texas.“The next summer I had a Center for Peace and Global Citizenship internship at a women's health center in Esteli, Nicaragua,” says Seymour.“When I returned to Haverford, as a political science major, I found all of my work surrounded issues of women's health care.  So, in the fall of my junior year I applied for and was given permission to complete an independent major in public health.”

To view footage of Seymour's speech at the Stop Stupak rally go to www.youtube.com/watch?v=r413sKXqlqc