Pro-Life News from Calgary to Iraq

From http://lifenews.com/int679.html

 

Canadian Pro-Abortion Censorship Continues, University of Calgary Students Hit

Email this article Printer friendly page RSS Newsfeed

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
April 1, 2008

Calgary, Canada (LifeNews.com) -- Canadian pro-life student groups can't seem to catch a break as colleges and universities across Canada have targeted them in a relentless campaign of censorship. Groups have been told to disband, debates have been canceled and, now, students at the University of Calgary have been told to take down a pro-life display.

University of Calgary security officials gave members of Campus Pro-Life a "notice to vacate" -- to take down a display that memorializes the babies who have been victims of abortion.

The notice did not give any reason for removing the pro-life display but indicated the pro-life students would be "trespassing" on their own campus if they didn't comply.

Campus Pro-Life provided LifeNews.com with a press release about the notice and said university officials claimed authority under the Alberta Petty Trespass Act to order removal of the pro-life display.

Matthew Wilson, president of the group, said college officials told the group earlier this month to turn its signs inwards so students passing by would not have to see them as they traversed the campus grounds.

Charlene Anderson, the university’s legal counsel, wrote a letter to the group saying "We have received numerous complaints in the past about the graphic and often disturbing nature of the display."

Wilson asked, "If a Muslim club were to set up a controversial exhibit on campus and a Christian club objected, would the university require the Muslim club to turn its display inward?"

Then, "on the morning of Monday March 31, the Campus Pro-Life club refused to comply with this request," Wilson said -- adding that the group went ahead with its plans for the display.

Wilson indicated the college "backed down from its censorship demand and
provided security as well as 'caution' signs warning students," about the display.

By Monday afternoon, campus security ordered the pro-life display taken down.

Wilson said the display is down for now as the group decides its next step.

Leah Hallman, a UC student who is the treasurer of the pro-life group, told the Calgary Herald the action by university officials amounts to censorship.

"We believe the university is a marketplace for ideas. If we can't have free speech at the university, where can we?" she asked.

The display has been erected on campus four times since 2006 without incident and Campus Pro-Life plans a press conference and march later today to protest.

Related web sites:
Campus Pro-Life - http://www.myasoftware.com/~cpl

 

__________________________

From http://lifenews.com/nat3830.html

A Tragic Milestone - Abortion Deaths Daily far Exceed Iraq Conflict Casualties

Email this article Printer friendly page RSS Newsfeed

by Maria Vitale
LifeNews.com Editorial Columnist
April 1, 2008

LifeNews.com Note: Maria Vitale is a LifeNews.com Opinion Columnist and the Education Director of the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation. Vitale has written and reported for various broadcast and print media outlets, including National Public Radio, CBS Radio, and AP Radio.

Within the past week, newspaper headlines declared a tragic milestone: the overall death toll from the five-year war in Iraq has reached more than 4,000. Also, for every 15 troops wounded in Iraq, there has been one fatality.

The war in Iraq will undoubtedly remain a key issue in the Presidential race. Newsmen and newswomen in particular are likely to focus much attention on that 4,000 fatality figure.

Yet, I doubt whether a single questioner in a Presidential debate will point out a troubling truth: nearly that many American babies die in a single day from abortion.

One day--nearly 4,000 deaths. A five-year war compressed into a single 24-hour period.

Who will dare ask about an exit strategy for the war going on on our domestic front? Who will interview the grieving post-abortive mothers and fathers? Who will ask the grandparents where their grandchildren have gone? Who will grill candidates at the federal, state, and local level about their support for the war on unborn children and their mothers?

The casualties in this war will not be buried with honors. In fact, they won't receive a funeral at all.

In all likelihood, they won't even have a name, unless their mothers, drawing on their inner courage, attend a post-abortion healing retreat.

Newscasts chronicle the struggles soldiers returning from battle sometimes face in dealing with the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder. Women undergoing abortion often have their own post-traumatic disorder to deal with, a disorder they may try to numb through drugs and alcohol.

Where are the discussions about public health policy to deal with the emotional trauma of abortion? How are women to re-adjust to school and work after losing a child in the abortion war?

The next time candidates come knocking on your door asking for your vote, ask them what they intend to do to end the abortion war. The unborn children of America deserve an answer.