Posted on 05/01/2003 9:34:30 AM PDT by NorCoGOP
LAWRENCE, Kan. -- I have been writing this column in my head now for four years, since I first saw the gruesome and sensationalized photos of aborted fetuses that anti-abortion activists adorned our campus with.
Now, after a lovely spring day has been ruined by these photos and the offensive comments that accompany them, I have decided to exercise my First Amendment right.
The purpose of this column is not to get into some sort of argument over semantics, to debate the definition of the term "baby" or "life" or to debate the morality of abortion. I only wish to defend the group of people on this campus who have been arguably the most devastated by these anti-abortion demonstrations: women who have had abortions.
I have no statistic as to how many young women on this campus have had abortions, but I am willing to bet that it is in the hundreds or perhaps even the thousands. Think for a minute the effect these billboards have had on these women.
The abortion protesters I spoke with this week had one horrible misconception. They assume that women who have had abortions had some sort of malice towards the pregnancy they terminated. This is pure ignorance. I have several friends who have had abortions. It was not by any means an easy decision to make. These women had to make an excruciating choice that will affect them for the rest of their lives. That's not to say that they regret the choice they made; however, having an abortion was a frightening ordeal for them, one they surely do not wish to relive while attempting to cross the campus so they may receive an education.
Fact: Abortion is legal in the state of Kansas. Fact: The University of Kansas is a public university. Is it a forum for people to enact moral judgment on someone who did something entirely within the realm of the law? Since when has it been appropriate to express glaring public disdain toward someone for making a choice she had every legal right to make? What is the purpose of these protesters? Is it their goal to make those who have had abortions feel guilty by posting words such as "kill" and "genocide"? (Whoever first equated this term with abortion has surely never opened a dictionary.) They assured me that their only aim was to put an end to abortion. Why must they accuse hundreds of young women of murder while trying to make a point?
We all have the right to make moral judgments. We all have the right to decide whether a woman who has had an abortion is a murderer. These abortion protesters have a right to their platform. However, just because a woman has had an abortion does not mean she has to endure this. This is a state school. At a religious institution it might be acceptable to post billboards condemning peoples' actions; but this university is not such an institution. Maybe this wasn't the intent of these protesters; however, it disgusts me that any one young woman on this campus has to tolerate such blatant disdain of a choice she legally made.
I do not expect these protesters to realize my point. After having several discussions with them during which they uttered unconvincing mantras, I realized that arguing with them was useless. My question is, which university official thought it appropriate for young women on this campus be harassed for exercising their legal right? I am horrified that our beautiful campus was polluted with these horrific displays, and I am dumbfounded that it was permitted.
Good grief! I'm 24. I'm not ready to have a kid, either. But if I got a girl pregnant, you can be damned sure I'd suck it up and be a man, do the right thing, and take responsibility for my actions.
Why would you be so cold and callous to use words like "suck that thing out of me before you could say "birth control" "? That's some pretty harsh language. It reflects an extrme hatred, which I would imagine is really a hatred of yourself
The only men you will attract with an attitude like that, without love of yourself, are men who will use you for sex because they know that they don't have to face any responsibility for their actions. I hope I'm wrong, but I've seen it myself and it's really too bad.
Hopefully you understand the error of your ways. Take care. Try to figure out what it is that you hate about yourself that is causing you to feel like this. Cold, callous, lonely and hatefull is no way to go through life.
This moron doesn't even know that the first day of Spring is March 20 this year. Why should we believe anything else she has to whine about?
Precisely. That is why the pro-abortion folks are trying to squelch this:
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