I am compelled to respond to the Center for Bio-ethical Reform’s “Genocide Awareness Project,” which is on campus this week.
CBR claims abortion involves body parts and blood- yes. Most surgical procedures do.
If we prohibited surgeries based on grossness, many life-saving procedures would not exist.
I found CBR’s mastectomy photos more disturbing than the fetus photos. However, I would never argue that women should be denied mastectomies just because the procedure looks gruesome.
Another fact CBR points out is that fetuses have fingers and toes- yes, again and most people know this already.
All Ohio abortion clinics are required by law to give patients a photo booklet on fetal development (funded by taxes) twenty-four hours before their abortions.
The goal is to make women rethink their decisions.
It doesn’t work.
Pregnant women who do not want to give birth have sought abortion when it was illegal, dangerous and socially stigmatized.
Knowledge of what fetuses look like has little effect when women are faced with unwanted pregnancy.
CBR also claims abortion is a “hate crime”- the equation of abortion with hate crime equates living humans with fetuses, and hatred and fear (which fuel genocide) with women’s decisions regarding childbearing.
Almost nine years ago, Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr., were murdered in grisly hate crimes that captured national attention.
When CBR equates abortion with hate crime, they are equating these two men with fetuses.
In doing so, they rob victims of hate crimes of the relevance of their lives. This is a shame, indeed.
I am disappointed that Falcons for Life would sponsor this group without care for the many women and men in our community who might be traumatized by their photos: those who have had miscarriages, mastectomies or difficulty conceiving.
There is nothing just or supportive about CBR’s “Genocide Awareness Project.”
– Jeannie Ludlow, Faculty, Women’s Studies,
