Baptist University Cancels Abortion Activist’s Speech After Pro-Life Students Complain

National   |   Micaiah Bilger   |   Nov 1, 2021   |   6:24PM   |   Washington, DC

A celebrated author and abortion activist will not be speaking at a Southern Baptist university in Alabama this month after pro-life students complained.

Newsweek reports Samford University leaders recently decided to cancel the speech by Jon Meacham, a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and biographer who advocates for the billion-dollar abortion chain Planned Parenthood.

“Jon Meacham is significantly involved with the Planned Parenthood organization. He has spoken at their fundraising events, his book is used for the Planned Parenthood fundraiser, and overall his beliefs and core values do not align with those of Samford University, as it is a Southern Baptist institution,” students said in a petition calling for his speech to be canceled.

Meacham was scheduled to speak about civic discourse this week at the inauguration of the new university president, Beck Taylor, according to the report.

However, university leaders said they decided to cancel Meacham’s talk at the inauguration due to concerns that his pro-abortion beliefs do not match the university’s pro-life values or its purpose for the inauguration. They said they will reschedule his talk on civic discourse for a later time; the talk is not about abortion.

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“Mr. Meacham, who is a noted historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning presidential biographer, has been invited to our campus to highlight his work in analyzing the current state of civility and discourse in our country. We look forward to hosting him at a later date,” they said in a statement.

In a letter, Taylor said he support free speech at the university, but he felt that the controversy about Meacham’s abortion advocacy would detract from the inauguration, AL.com reports.

“Although I am disappointed by the narrative that has combined important conversations about pro-life issues and Mr. Meacham’s planned appearance at Samford, it is vitally important to me that next week’s events unify and draw our community together to celebrate the history and future of Samford University, a place we love and for which we all care deeply,” Taylor wrote.

Meacham spoke at a Planned Parenthood fundraiser in Texas in October. Planned Parenthood is the largest abortion chain in the U.S. It reported more than 354,000 abortions last year, which represents about 40 percent of all unborn babies aborted in America that year.

The Southern Baptist Convention is solidly pro-life. During its annual meeting in June, church leaders approved multiple pro-life resolutions, including one that calls for the “immediate abolition of abortion without exception or compromise.”