The anti-abortion group, Genocide Awareness Project, held an exhibition in North Plaza Last Monday and Tuesday which showcased pictures of aborted fetuses. The group was invited by Students for Life, a student organization that opposes abortion.
“[One of] our main goals was to invite the Genocide Awareness Project to our campus,” said Anna Maher, president of Students for Life.
According to Maher, when she first started her pro-life advocacy, she was approached by a member of the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform.
The Genocide Awareness Project is part of the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform, and after working with CBR, Maher wanted to bring the Genocide Awareness Project to campus.
Maher is aware that there are numerous student complaints about the graphic nature of the images in the Genocide Awareness Project.
“Well, they are overly graphic,” Maher said. “They’re overly graphic and real.”
Johanna Young, an officer in Students for Life, who describes herself as a post-abortive mother, believes that many students are unaware of the nature of abortion, and the pictures might change some opinions on the issue.
“For me, it’s more about exposing the reality of [abortion] instead of making it seem [like something it isn’t],” Young said. “A woman might not have an abortion after [seeing the Genocide Awareness Project]. It’s still their choice, but they might make a different choice after seeing [the Genocide Awareness Project].”
Maher said she believes there are similarities between abortion and genocide, which is another reason why she supports the project.
“The main comparison that we think is similar is the removal of personhood. When genocide happens, people in power remove the personhood of the victims to make them not seem human,” Maher said. “The Nazis called the Jews rats, pigs and subhuman. When a woman is pregnant, I never say, ‘When’s your fetus due?’ I say, ‘When’s your baby due?’ But in abortions, we use the term ‘fetus.’ Terminology and removal of personhood are very similar.”
The demonstration was protested by Patriots for Choice, a student group that supports abortion.
“We believe that the whole notion that abortion is genocide is absolutely ludicrous,” said Lily Bolourian, president of Patriots for Choice. “We knew that students were going to be upset by seeing these images, and we wanted to create a lighter mood to help student feel secure, and to also make sure our two groups don’t have issues.
Historically there have been clashes between the two movements.”
According to Janelle Germanos, co-vice president of Patriots for Choice, her group was also there to provide students with information.
“We were widely successful [in our protest],” Bolourian said. “We were able to garner almost 1,000 signatures condemning the images, and we raised hundreds of dollars, which is a lot from college students. [Students for Life] did themselves a huge injustice by having [the Genocide Awareness Project] come. It only raised support for us.”
Despite the opposition, Maher believes what she is doing is right. She recalls that in the civil rights movement, when Martin Luther King Jr. was distributing flyers about racism, his actions were unpopular at the time.
“He said America will not reject racism until America sees it,” Maher said. “And America will not reject abortion until they see it for what it truly is.”
Janelle Germanos is a former writer for Broadside.
2 Comments
My friend pointed this quote out to me, and I did not believe that any newspaper that wishes to be credible could have such an oversight: ”
The demonstration was protested by Patriots for Choice, a student group that supports abortion.” Wrong. So wrong. Patriots for Choice does not “support abortion”. Patriots for Choice supports the right of women to choose whether or not they are physically, mentally, or financially ready and able to carry and give birth to a child. They do not support abortion. They do not promote abortion. They fight for the right to keep it a viable option for women who may be in need of it.
Even the Pro-Life term is incredibly misleading. It seems to suggest that Pro-Choice advocates are not in support of life, which is blatantly untrue. They care very much for life. They also care about the rights, not just of children (or babies, or fetuses, or zygotes as the case may be), but about the rights of women to do with their bodies what they will. This is not about being for abortion. This is about the right to choose.
Cassie just summed it up. Most of the politicians who are voting for and introducing these bills that limit women’s reproductive rights and access to healthcare that they need and deserve, are surprise surprise, men. It’s cruel and wrong. I’m a male myself and I’m absolutely ashamed of my sex. Let women make their own choices and control their own bodies. We are being hyprocrites, if women did the same thing to us (which I doubt they would) we’d be extremely upset. So, does it make sense to do it to them? No, it does not. Also, I was disgusted by the gigantic wall of fetus pictures that the Anti-Abortion crowd put up. I know it’s free speech, but it isn’t working in their favor, it just makes them look more desperate and crazy. Plus, 40 feet long and 15 feet tall is too big and too obnoxious. It got in the way of people going to class, and it would’ve been embarrassing if any of the Mason tour groups saw it.