By Patrick B. Craine
MONTREAL, Quebec, October 1, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Students Society of McGill University (SSMU) will vote tonight on a motion to officially and publically censure an upcoming October 6th talk hosted by the university's pro-life club Choose Life.
The talk, entitled 'Echoes of the Holocaust,' will be delivered by the Canadian Centre for Bioethical Reform's Jose Ruba.
Should the motion pass, the SSMU will seek to have the event cancelled by the university's Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning) Morton Mendelson.
“I hope that the student society recognizes our right to promote discussion on whatever issues we like in a respectful manner,” said Natalie Fohl, founder and president of Choose Life.
Fohl, a third year undergraduate majoring in biology and political science, explained to LifeSiteNews her group's reasons for hosting Ruba's talk. “I think the fact that abortion is an injustice for the unborn, and that it's justified by devaluing the unborn based on arbitrary characteristics, is a really important one and one that doesn't get attention,” she said.
She indicated, further, that the presentation responds to those who claim that the unborn are not human beings. “If you take a look at historical events which we now recognize as being objectively bad where the same thing happened,” she said, “I think it's a really interesting parallel and we'll hopefully … encourage people to consider what's really happening with abortion today.”
The Choose Life group was founded last November, sparking controversy on campus. The club was fully ratified in February after a lengthy debate among the SSMU. According to Fohl, each of the group's events have been met with protest.
In light of the controversy over next week's talk, pro-abortion advocates are attempting to have the group's club status revoked, most notably through articles in the student newspaper. Fohl has written her own piece in response.
Last year, while giving the same presentation at St. Mary's University in Halifax, Jose Ruba was shouted down by pro-abortion advocates, and the university ultimately forced him to finish at an off-campus location.
See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
At Two Canadian Universities Freedom of Speech Upheld for Pro-Life Students
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/feb/09021712.html