A new financial policy at Georgetown University has some people questioning whether the Catholic school ever supported or profited from abortion.
The questions arose this week after the university board of directors approved a new policy requiring socially responsible investing, according to the school newspaper The Hoya. Catholic teachings on the value of human life and abortion are among the considerations listed in the policy.
The investment policy instructs university leaders to “avoid investments in companies that are substantially involved in the provision of abortion services,” according to the newspaper. However, Georgetown officials repeatedly refused to answer if the Catholic school ever invested in pro-abortion groups in the past.
Journalists from The College Fix and The Hoya both asked this question of several university officials but received no response.
The Fix reports more:
Georgetown’s student newspaper, The Hoya, recently ran an article announcing that the university was “[making] efforts to avoid investments in companies involved in providing abortion services.” To any devout Catholic, or anyone who knows the abortion politics of the Church, such a conceit is quite frankly baffling. Georgetown is “making efforts” to avoid investing in abortion providers? How on Earth would such investments even happen in the first place? Would not Georgetown—one of the preeminent Catholic universities in the country—mind its affairs to the point that the school could refrain from pouring money, and reaping profits, from businesses that stand so starkly against this core Catholic tenet?
The Catholic Church is one of the leading advocates for the rights of unborn babies in the world. It teaches that all human lives are valuable, from conception to natural death, and deserving of protection.
Keep up with the latest pro-life news and information on Twitter. Follow @LifeNewsHQ
However, Georgetown and several other Catholic universities in the U.S. sometimes appear to be veering away from these teachings.
Last year, Georgetown welcomed Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards as a speaker on campus. Despite objections from the church and pro-life advocates, university leaders defended Richards’ talk about her work as the head of the No. 1 abortion provider in America.
In November, the university’s law school also hosted a pro-abortion event that focused on self-induced abortions and the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits direct taxpayer funding of most abortions at the federal level.
“Every featured speaker at the symposium is in some way involved in trying to legalize, normalize or support abortion either through their personal activism or through their employers and affiliated organizations,” wrote Adam Cassandra at The Cardinal Newman Society.
The problem is not just at Georgetown. Just this month, Catholics also questioned Fordham University, a Catholic school in New York, for hosting a series of workshops with a pro-euthanasia group during the past school year. In contrast, Catholic pro-life advocate Patty Knap said she could not find a single workshop at the university that presented the Catholic perspective on euthanasia and assisted suicide.
And last fall, DePaul University, a Catholic school in Chicago, refused to allow students to hang up pro-life posters with the words “Unborn Lives Matter” on campus, because it said the language could “provoke” other students.
