A Catholic high school in Canada is facing harsh criticism after it showed students a video that compared the horrors of abortion to those of the Holocaust.
The Catholic Church considers abortion to be a grave evil against unborn babies, and it is common for Catholic schools to teach students about the value of human life, beginning at conception. However, one student apparently complained to Canadian Education Minister David Eggen about the video, leading to public outrage, RD News Now reports.
The school, Ecole Secondaire Notre Dame in Red Deer, Alberta, showed the pro-life video to 10th to 12th grade students in March, CBC News reports. The group Red Deer and Area Pro Life showed the 3-minute film, “The Case Against Abortion: Personhood,” as part of a presentation to the students.
Canadian government officials are not happy with the school for showing the video.
Here’s more from the report:
About 75 seconds into the anti-abortion video, it draws the controversial parallel: a piece of paper fills the screen, stating, “…abortion, infanticide, and the euthanization of the disabled, elderly or infirm can all be justified. Of course, we’ve seen this before.” It then cuts to the word Auschwitz, a reference to the Second World War Nazi death camp. The next 40 seconds of the video are about the widespread killing by the Nazi regime.
Alberta Education Minister David Eggen said in a statement that his office was made aware the video was screened and contacted Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools “to share [the] government’s deep concern.”
“Let me be clear, there is no place in a publicly-funded school for a video comparing the horrors of the Holocaust to abortion,” Eggen said.
In response to media attention and criticism, the Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools said it asked the pro-life group to adjust its future presentations to students. It said their goal is to teach students that “human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception.”
“It has come to our attention that the presentation by Red Deer & Area Pro-Life contained controversial resources that did not achieve the intended teaching outcome in a suitable manner,” the Catholic schools group said in a statement. “Upon review, our Division has requested that Red Deer & Area Pro-Life make adjustments to their presentation to ensure it is more appropriate for students.”
The Catholic schools group said the Holocaust comparison was problematic, but the pro-life position will continue to be taught. They also told the Global News that there were never any problems with the pro-life group’s presentations in the past.
