Daily Nebraskan

Issue date: 9/27/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Clay Lomneth Sam Boman, 16, volunteered for the Genocide Awareness Project, a group that brings awareness to abortion by comparing it to genocide. Boman said some members of GAP came to speak at his school, and he signed up to help. [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: Clay Lomneth Freshmen Lindsay Limbach, a news-editorial major, and Virginia Lane, an advertising major, examine the signs GAP hung up in front of the Nebraska Union on Wednesday. Both said they were glad the group was there. [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: Clay Lomneth Karla Rinschen, a senior biology major, discusses faith with Sister Veronica of Waverly. Veronica had come to take photos of some of her students taking part in the GAP protest. [Click to enlarge]

Listen to a podcast where both sides discuss the issues.

The abortion debate was front and center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln on Wednesday, as the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform presented its "Genocide Awareness Project," which aims to equate abortion to genocide.

On the green space west of Selleck Residence Hall, the group posted several large signs showing aborted fetuses next to signs containing images from the Holocaust, American slavery and the Cambodian genocide of the 1960s.

Sean Hershberger, president of UNL Students for Life, said the anti-abortion group was invited to campus to inform students about abortion. The display will continue today.



"We want students to know what it looks like," he said. "If you don't know what (abortion) looks like, it's a lot easier to be complacent and not care."

The Center for Bio-Ethical Reform will also be driving trucks around the downtown Lincoln area with pictures of aborted fetuses on each side as part of the campaign.

"We hate the images, but think it's necessary for people to see the injustice. The lives of our sons and daughters weigh heavier than the feelings of our sons and daughters," said Marlys Honeyman, the regional director for the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform.

Hershberger said the goal of the posters is to polarize the debate.

Honeyman compared the polarization inherent in the abortion debate to the polarization the U.S. felt prior to the Civil War.

"Every social reform movement will polarize people," she said.

The display caught the attention of university administrators.

Juan Franco, UNL's vice chancellor for student affairs, said it's important for students to voice opinions.

"Well, certainly they have the right to freedom of expression, and we need to provide for that," Franco said. " I'm certainly not sure I'd do it in this way, but I defend their right to do it."

Tina Neff, a freshman general studies major, said while she is anti-abortion, she's didn't agree with the group's tactics.

"Even though I agree with some of their points, it seems pretty pushy and unnecessary," she said, referring to the display. "I'm pro life, but I don't feel the need to push (my feelings) on everyone with a law."

The display did change the opinion of Whitney Young, a freshman in the pre-nursing program. She said her views changed after seeing the display.

"I used to think abortion was acceptable in cases of incest or rape," she said. "Abortion should be against the law everywhere. I know a lot of girls who don't take abortion seriously."

Brady Usher, a sophomore political science and Spanish major and president of UNL Students for Choice, said he was concerned about the graphic nature of the photos the group displayed.

"Imagine if there was a woman on campus who had had an abortion. Imagine what she's feeling on campus after seeing (those photos). Imagine the emotional toll she's paying because she did what was best for her in (her) situation," he said.

"I think that (the display is) sensationalist, and that it's meant to appeal to your emotional side. And when you appeal to your emotional side, you're not thinking rationally," he said.

Dené Oglesby, a senior French and Spanish major and member of UNL Students for Choice, said she is concerned with what she feels are inconsistencies in the anti-abortion position.

"The main problem I have is that they say they want these babies to be born into the world, but there's no resources for these 1 million babies who are born into the world every year," she said, adding that if the government were to define human life at conception, it should provide resources for the fetus from the moment of conception.

But Oglesby said she would still allow the group to come to campus.

"I think it's distasteful, but I wouldn't prevent it from happening because it promotes discussion on campus," she said.

stevescharf@dailynebraskan.com

To listen to a Podcast of a debate from both sides, click here

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