Another year passes and, like clockwork, another anti-abortion protest arises on the grounds of a Planned Parenthood. With scientific advancement at an all-time high and reason taking over faith in the social and political sphere, you would think that Abrahamic Law would no longer be capable of trumping basic moral intuition. Think again.
As seen on the front page of the Sept. 29 issue of The Gonzaga Bulletin, the 40 Days for Life campaign, with the endorsement of a handful of GU students, some of whom are a part of the Students for Life club, marched to the grounds of Planned Parenthood and "peacefully" protested a clinic that promotes sexual education and, if the situation calls for it, helping a woman make a safe and educated decision as to how she should approach pregnancy.
The aforementioned article cites that the campaign has "[saved] 4,313 lives" while forcing "53 abortion workers [to quit] their jobs" and "16 abortion facilities [to be] shut down." They claim that 4,313 lives have been "saved," yet they completely neglect to consider these women's situations: rape, incest, inability to safely carry to term and inability to raise a child. These are just a handful of examples.
How, in any way, shape or form, does this fall under the scope of humanistic compassion as it relates to our ethical standard as a university and, more importantly, as human beings? How is it possible that a coalition of "believers" can take it upon themselves to try and trump the rights of women, citing religious metaphysics and the Bible as their guiding force?
To build on this point you need not look any further than the 40 Days for Life's very own "leadership team," composed of three men and two women. The men, by the way, hold the three highest positions in the leadership team: CEO, Campaign Director and Board Chair.
Since when was it possible for three men, who will never have even the faintest grasp on the emotional and physical scope of pregnancy, to be the guiding force behind a movement that attempts to destroy every advancement that women have made in the past 100 years?
These irrational beliefs hide behind the thin veil of claiming the moral high ground while simultaneously proclaiming that the opposing camp is "pro-murder." The campaign, in all of its metaphysically granted glory, demonstrates the very attitude that has created such an immense fissure between secularists and theists — cries of Deus Vult that are perpetuated by blind faith and a complete disregard for fellow human beings.
If we are to ever advance as a society on a political or social level we must start with the preservation of personal rights, and if it is ever made illegal for over half of the country to make a decision about their own body, we will have taken our first of many steps back into the Dark Ages.
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