By: Daniel Johnson, Staff Reporter | Photo By: Stefany Olivas, Managing Editor
Student Believes Pro-Life Group Goes Too Far
The pro-life group that protested near the Student Services Center on Main campus recently went too far, said Cosmetology major Connie Gashler.
The pro-life Christian organization, Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust, held a demonstration on campus on Oct. 15 and 16 which included large posters of aborted fetuses and pamphlets that compare abortion in the U.S. to the Holocaust.
“This is not right. The use of gore and horrific images, or reference to the term holocaust as a way to scare people into a form of belief, is not right,” said Gashler, who identifies as pro-life.
Kyle McNeill, member of Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust’s national awareness outreach group, The Campus Life Team, said the California-based group travels to college campuses around the country to promote their pro-life message.
The group believes that anyone born after 1973 is a survivor of an abortion holocaust and that 243 out every 1,000 pregnancies will end in abortion, according to the survivors.la website.
“We believe life begins at conception and we are trying to get people to understand that,” said McNeill.
Gashler, whose grandparents are Holocaust survivors, said that comparing abortion to the Holocaust is disrespectful and not the way to begin a discussion on the topic.
“I have Jewish ancestry and the use of holocaust in the group’s name is a blatant misuse of the term and offensive,” said Gashler.
McNeill said the organization is using the first amendment right of free speech to educate individuals who may not understand the process of an abortion.
“We have taught some students things and they have taught us but the conversations always start with a difference of opinion,” he said.
Gashler said she is all for the freedom of speech and agrees with their message, just not the method.
“Use logic and reason. Since people are ready to discuss the subject they should be given some credit and respect and not be confronted with militant actions,” said Gashler. “Not everyone is going to abide by my beliefs, but I show respect when I discuss being pro-life.”
McNeill said that his group believes that the only acceptable form of birth control is condoms. Birth control pills and the morning after pill are forms of abortion that create a hostile environment, he said.
Gashler said the pill is designed to not allow conception, so it is not a form of abortion. She said she used birth control pills and then proceeded to have three children when she was ready.
“I think all three of my kids found my uterus pretty hospitable,” she said.
