In “celebration” of Respect Life Month, SLU Students for Life has kindly turned our quad in to a graveyard. The Cemetery of the Innocents is a yearly display of wooden crosses, each of which signify a certain number of abortions performed daily. This year the crosses are decorated with colored ribbons which represent the country in which the abortions are performed and proportionally represent pregnancy terminations by nationality. The cemetery, however, is an intentionally misleading display and an incomplete homage to Respect Life Month.
The question of terminating a pregnancy has never been, and never will be, simple enough to carve out of wood. When a woman finds it necessary to make a decision that will profoundly affect her future, she is confronted with more complicated questions than whether she wants children. Resources, timing, those she is dependent upon and those dependent upon her are all substantial and emotional variables that affect her choice. Simplifying this heartbreaking process into a morbid display of loss is ignorant and cruel. Instead of enlightening SLU students on the reality of abortions, the cemetery serves to shame those who have made a very difficult decision.
Similarly, the cemetery is an inadequate tribute to what Respect Life Month should represent. By focusing only on abortion and ignoring the millions of people that die for unjust reasons, Students for Life has created a hierarchy of worthiness. Those who claim to fight for life should be concerned with the causalities of war, capital punishment, starvation and disease, among other things. The cemetery promotes the belief that life is only worth protecting in the womb. Post birth, death begins to lose its sadness.
Next year, Students for Life should hold themselves to a higher standard, one that respects the lives of the women that were forced to make these decisions and one that encompasses the varied and complex instances of loss.
– Written by B*llikens for Choice.
Western Watchman • Oct 20, 2011 at 11:26 am
Friends ? Except for the empty tomb, the cross is by far the most hopeful symbol in the Christian lexicon, because the cross leads to the Resurrection. Anyone feeling shame over any decisions they may have made should stand in the middle of an acre of crosses and come to grips with the infinite hope and forgiveness they signify. Likewise, anyone tempted to cast judgment on people in need of hope and mercy might want to ask first, ?What can I do to help??
BC • Oct 17, 2011 at 10:23 pm
While, I think it is nice to hear a perspective that is not traditionally heard on campus I also believe the author might have unmeaningly been unfair even though they have a point. I do not believe students for life make their demonstrations with any ill intentions. However, they can be painful to anyone who has, or knows someone who has, had to make that decision. No matter what the outcome or the reason. I personally have a friend who must avoid the quad because of a very difficult medically based choice they had to make at a very young age. This isn’t always a completely moral decision, and that should be respected, just as both sides of the argument must be. The choice will never be easy, and will never be without pain and remorse, no matter who you are.
MT • Oct 14, 2011 at 11:12 am
And in keeping with my post, which will probably be misread as I don’t think we should have compassion for women who have been raped, I will say from close experience that rape does force hard questions on a woman as does carrying a child from rape.
The morning after pill isn’t consistent with Catholic teaching, but it is a better alternative to carrying the child for months and then decided to terminate.
Outside of the morning after pill, there is always adoption. Yes, the foster system is very, very hard on children. But I’m glad I was given a chance to fight for my life and what I wanted to make of it.
MT • Oct 14, 2011 at 11:07 am
You’re trying to label the demonstration as something it is not. Catholic values speak out against the injustices done to ALL persons, whether that be in the womb, as a child, as an individual with low SES, as a war victim or refugee, and as an elderly person. Respect life is just that: respect of ALL life. Respect of life from conception to natural death. Students for Life is in keeping with it’s namesake and it’s core mission. So while the crosses do not represent the millions who die every day because of an injustice, it does represent a population that was never allowed to have a chance at life. Viability has been proven to 20 weeks. 20 weeks! Fingerprints have been found at 4 weeks as have teeth with separate DNA from the mother. How can we say that someone isn’t human yet when they have two of the most defining characteristics we use to identify humans? No one said that choosing to respect life was easy. It forces a lot of hard decisions on a woman and sometimes the sex isn’t consensual. But life isn’t easy. Abortion shouldn’t be easy. How can we say a child doesn’t really exist in the womb, but if a woman is murdered while she is pregnant, it’s double homicide? Nothing I say will convince anyone whose mind is already made up of what they consider the beginning of life, but aren’t you glad your birth mom gave you a chance?
LawBill • Oct 13, 2011 at 9:46 pm
I understand the author’s frustration, but at the same time feel inclined to point out that s/he is being rather unfair in this letter. It’s true, the importance of compassion and support for one going through/having gone through an abortion cannot be understated. Having said that, this letter says nothing about the (perceived) tragedy of the thousands of innocent unborns who lose their lives to abortion day-in and day-out. I am unsure what my opinion is on whether or not abortion is truly murder, and I find both arguments compelling. What I AM sure about is that people who DO believe abortion is murder are (understandably) really saddened for all of the terminated unborns, and it is their right to publicly mourn their termination, and to call to attention the debate. Personally, I never hope to find myself dealing with an unwanted pregnancy, because as this letter correctly points out, it IS a difficult decision. And the reason why, is because you really do need to grapple with the reality that you are deciding whether or not to terminate the development (life?) of your (future?) son or daughter. Additionally, the notion that “the cemetery promotes the belief that life is only worth protecting in the womb” is entirely unfounded and serves as little more than a cheapshot, putting words in the mouth of the Students for Life organization. While it is certainly true that raising awareness of “the causalities of war, capital punishment, starvation and disease, among other things” are, indeed, noble pursuits, it does not logically follow that raising awareness of this specific (perceived) injustice is without merit, and thus should not be done. One can be affected by those other injustices, and be moved by this one just ad much or more. They are not mutually exclusive. Abortion is one large (if not the largest) focus of Students for Life, so clearly they will make this their primary issue, especially at a Catholic university, where there exists a very large concentration of people who truly believe abortion is a black-and-white sin. This letter does not analyze the situation in a fair, objective matter that is respectful to those people’s beliefs. Not that I would expect them to. B*llikens for Choice is a biased organization with an agenda, just like Students for Life is, and the two have conflicting ideologies, so they will continue to do things that upset the other. But in continuing dialog to further any issue, bias and unfairness must be checked at the door, and this letter utterly fails to do that.
Krista • Oct 13, 2011 at 6:08 pm
Thank you so much for writing this letter. I sometimes feel like SLU is not an accepting forum for hearing different opinions when it comes to the matter of Students for Life. Now I know that there are others that view this like I do!
LB • Oct 13, 2011 at 1:25 pm
Great message. Thank you so much for sharing what many of us have been thinking for years. Keep up the good work. I hope one day SLU will become a more open place and your voice can be heard alongside those in Students for Life.