By: Jasmyn Elliott /Opinion Editor
When I received an email regarding the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform’s so-called “Genocide Awareness Project” making an appearance on campus, I thought the name said it all: a genocide awareness project.
I did not expect to see multiple three-square-feet photographs of aborted fetuses.
I am all for free speech and expressing one’s opinion on important social issues, especially one that affects women all over the globe. I am also in support of those on opposing sides of an issue coming together to discuss those opinions and at least come to an understanding of the opposite point of view. However, I am not for showing graphic imagery in an inappropriate manner under false pretenses.
When it comes to graphic medical imagery, I am not squeamish. Both of my parents have worked in the medical field and, as a result, I have been exposed to such imagery at a young age and have even taken a personal interest in women’s health. However, other students may not be so lucky and could have easily been distracted, if not nauseated, by the explicit imagery that the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform used in their installation.
Also, in addition to the photographs of aborted fetuses, images from the Holocaust and other genocides depicting heaps of dead victims were also included, adding to the alarming nature of their display. On top of that, at one point a woman in association with the center got hold of a microphone and began shouting into the crowd, drawing even more attention to it.
True, they did have signs warning people of the disturbing imagery ahead-and, I give them credit for it-but the images were blown up to such a large size that they were easily seen from a distance. I hate to use the cliché, but the images were like watching open-heart surgery: disgusting, but very difficult to look away from.
Also, for those that received the email, I must say that the title “Genocide Awareness Project” is very misleading. When one mentions the word “genocide,” I would say that the majority of us would think of the Holocaust, the ethnic cleansing in Rwanda in 1994 or Darfur during the new millennium. By definition, genocide “is the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group,” according to the Oxford English dictionary and the Geneva Convention.
While people have varying opinions on when “life” begins, I think it is safe to say that “Fetus” is neither an ethnic group nor a religion.
Abortion is a social issue that always produces deep, spirited discussion, but there is a time and a place for it. One of these places would be a college campus, but the method the Center used, while attention-grabbing and definitely likely to produce a strong response, was inappropriate. I do not mind if they return, but with a method that does not rely on deception and shock value to engage students in the discussion of a serious issue.
If the aborted fetuses are not human beings and merely blobs of tissue, then why would anyone be upset about seeing photos of them?? I would not be upset about a photo of someone’s appendix or a photo of a human brain. What’s the problem? Maybe you know the problem…..which is why you’re so obviously upset. yes it is upsetting.
I get it, you say your all for freedom of speech and expressing one’s opionion except for when something SHOWS the truth? Truth is truth whether spoken with words or shown in pictures. I think your disturbed by the pictures because it so poignantly speaks to the truth of whats been going on far to long.
If the abortion industry thinks its doing such a great service to women then they wouldn’t be AFRAID to speak and SHOW the truth of what is really happening to the babies, not to mention the lives of so many many women after an abortion/taking of a life, because thats the truth of what abortion is. You can try to deny it all you want but it still won’t change the FACTS.
You also mentioned, not you, but other students looking at the graphic pictures could easily be distracted or nauseated, I certainly hope so, it’s more than distracting and nauseating to see the truth of what is happening to these precious babies, so your problem is WHAT?
Another point you made was that you thought the title “Genocide Awareness Project” was misleading. How’s that misleading? Genocide of MILLIONS and MILLIONS and MILLIONS of babies yes, babies not dogs, cats or something else has been taking place for way….to long! Those babies had no more choice in their deaths than did the Holocaust, Rwanda, and Darfur VICTUMS, yes victums, they all were. So you claim the term “Genocide” to be misleading, your way wrong, it couldn’t be closer to the truth!
Don’t you find it interesting that all those humans pushing for pro-choice are already alive? I wonder where we would be today if all those pro-choice humans would’ve had a mother who was pro-choice and chose to abort/kill them? Something to ponder on don’t you think?
Just one more thing, there is nothing inappropriate about speaking or showing the truth of such horrific atrocity and injustice. Thank God for those who still have a conscience.
In regards to the people making comments.
This group just came by at my University and I think it’s completely unecessary. While I’m not necessary pro-choice or pro-abortion, nobody has the right to tell a woman what she can or cannot do with her body. At the point of which most abortions take place the fetuses brain isn’t even completely developed (in fact the brain is still developing up into your teenage years), and the sections that form concious thought, the sensation of pain, or anything that people seem to be concerned about, are among the last things to develop before the baby’s birth. So I’m not hesitant to say that at the point the majority (and by majority I mean roughly 95%) of fetuses get aborted they really are nothing more than part of the mother’s body.
As for finding the pictures upsetting. It wasn’t even the pictures of the fetuses that were upsetting, it was their unprecedented comparison to tragedies of a far greater scale such as racial lynching, children macheted to death with stones in their mouths and people in concentration camps so thin you could see every bone in their body. This kind of comparison is completely false. You don’t have a group of people sitting around discussing how they want to abort every baby in the world. Abortion clinics don’t slander pregnant women and set them outcasted against others nor do they have disgust for babies and fetuses. Before you compare abortion to genocide look at the face of REAL genocide and tell me they are the same thing.
“Don’t you find it interesting that all those humans pushing for pro-choice are already alive? I wonder where we would be today if all those pro-choice humans would’ve had a mother who was pro-choice and chose to abort/kill them? Something to ponder on don’t you think?”
This point is invalid and moot. It’s not something to ponder because it’s irrelevant. I could easily ask “where would we be today if all those pro-life humans were aborted as fetuses?”. Again the answer is it doesn’t matter, because they weren’t. Focus on the facts, not hypothetical situations.