University of Cincinnati Students May Pay for Trip to Pro-Abortion March
by Maria Gallagher
LifeNews.com Staff Writer
March 11, 2004
Cincinnati, OH (LifeNews.com) — Pro-abortion students at the University of Cincinnati are trying to get the student government to pay for their trip to a national pro-abortion march in Washington, D.C. in April.
The students even launched a protest this week after student government President Ron Ricks indicated he intended to veto the request.
A bill before the student government would provide $2,420 to send more than a hundred students to attend the "March for Women’s Lives" April 25. The event is sponsored by some of the abortion industry’s heavy hitters, including Planned Parenthood, NARAL, and the National Organization for Women.
"Student Government is a body intended for the entire student population," said Paula Westwood, Executive Director of Right to Life of Greater Cincinnati and the Cincinnati Right to Life Educational Foundation.
"If the University of Cincinnati’s Student Government funds students to attend the March for Women’s Lives in Washington, D.C., then pro-life students should receive similar funding to attend the annual January 22nd March for Life in Washington, which has been conducted every year for over thirty years and draws hundreds of thousands of participants," Westwood
added.
Westwood says that $2,420 would be enough to send 240 University of Cincinnati students to the March for Life.
At the protest, Sara Gage, an international studies student said, "What we were asking for…was a chance to participate in a forum and that is what President Ricks has shorn of the students of UC."
But pro-life advocates maintain that, in all fairness, the Student Government should not approve funds for transportation to a pro-abortion march unless students are also financially supported for the pro-life march.
"If, as some students are claiming, this March is not to make a statement but to facilitate discussion and debate, then this claim requires legitimacy with equal support granted for pro-life students for their efforts," Westwood said.
The University of Cincinnati College Democrats sponsored the pro-abortion rally, with help from student volunteers from the university’s Women’s Center and Women’s Studies.
Pro-life advocates say that, because interest in the pro-abortion march has been low, various anti-war and anti-Bush groups are also joining the demonstration in an effort to increase turnout and visibility.
Pro-abortion groups have historically targeted college campuses because students are in the "abortion vulnerable" age bracket.
"According to studies…women 18-24 years old are those most likely to have abortions," said Westwood. "Unfortunately they are often deceived by the ‘reproductive rights’ terminology to make abortion choices with lifelong emotional and physical consequences."
Westwood believes pro-abortion students might change their minds–if they heard the testimony of women who have experienced the pain of abortion.
"Jennifer O’Neill, national celebrity spokeswomen for the Silent No More Awareness campaign for post-abortive women is speaking to the public Monday, March 15, at Xavier University in Cincinnati," Westwood said. "To be truly informed, these pro-abortion students should hear her story — one that will definitely not be told at the March for Women’s Lives."
Related web sites:
Cincinnati Right to Life – https://www.cincinnatirighttolife.org
Silent No More – https://www.silentnomoreawareness.org
