The ISU chapters of the American Civil Liberties Union and the Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance have joined forces for an evening of literature reading about women’s reproductive rights.

The reading will start today at 8 p.m. in the Oak Room of the Memorial Union.

The ACLU has featured women’s reproductive rights as its main campaign for fall semester, said ACLU President Cara Harris. “The ACLU views this as a privacy issue,” said Harris, sophomore in liberal arts and sciences. “It all goes back to the Fourth Amendment and the implied right to privacy.”

She said the organization is focusing on the women involved in reproductive rights issues, rather than the political aspect.

“We’re trying to focus on the overall impact of contraceptive rights and a woman’s right to choose,” Harris said. “We’re going to take the politics out of the issue for the night and make it much more personal, signifying the independence and individuality of women.”

Abortion, contraceptives, the right to choose and other women’s issues highlighted in letters, short stories, poems and excerpts from plays will be read by members of the ACLU and the FMLA, she said.

“There is only one voice out there right now, and it’s filled with anti-choice language,” said Ross Helgevold, finance chair of FMLA. “We want to present the other side of the issue to the campus.”

Helgevold, junior in English, said he hopes people will come away from the reading with increased knowledge about women’s rights.

“Nobody is really pro-abortion, but we are pro-woman’s right to choose,” he said. “I hope people come away from this really thinking about the issue and asking questions.”

Harris said there will not be a formal, public question-and-answer period after the reading, but Planned Parenthood and Sloss House representatives will be on hand to answer questions and distribute information.