Affirming Life at a Public University
Being prolife is as simple as not killing babies, right? Try again. As defenders of the sanctity of life, we need to do all we can to promote life in whatever situation God has placed us. This is not easy, especially when it’s obviously going to cause backlash. We want to be accepted and loved by the world, and we therefore remain quiet when it comes time to defend the lives of our helpless neighbors. Instead of falling into silence, we must use our unique experiences to proclaim the prolife message in the face of opposition.
As a college student, my life happens to be centered in a public university. Most public universities preach tolerance and inclusion, unless somebody has a dissenting view. Then it is deemed “hate speech”. Don’t let them fool you! There is nothing shameful or hateful about defending life.
I had an opportunity to attend a seminar at my university regarding abortion clinics and the Roe vs. Wade decision. At the end of the seminar, a professor of the university raised her hand and said, “I can’t believe all the antichoice people who would deny the right for a woman to get an abortion. It is not fair that a woman in college should have to carry the fetus to term. It will ruin her life!”
When I heard this comment, I was originally appalled. The arguments I had heard in the past were that the baby is part of the mother’s body, and the baby isn’t alive or viable. After further thought, I realized that academia has had to shift its mindset to justify its beliefs. The science hasn’t changed; in fact, it is even clearer that an unborn child is a unique, living human being. University professors don’t want to be labeled as opposing science, so they have changed their reasoning to one that is all too familiar from 1930s Germany, that they can pick and choose which lives are valuable and which can be sacrificed for the sake of the more valuable ones.
We, of course, know that every life is created by God and holds value, so much so that Christ willingly suffered and died to save mankind from our sin. Thanks be to God that He does value every individual so much!
How do we approach this evil thinking then? Should we avoid universities and those that hold these views? Absolutely not! Instead, we should continue to engage these people and show them the error of their ways, if they will listen. Although we will likely not convince most of those who have entrenched themselves in their beliefs to vindicate themselves, we can reach others who are willing to learn. So I encourage you to go into your community, university or otherwise, and let your voice and the voices of the unborn be heard, even if it is uncomfortable. All it takes is reaching one person to save a life, and at the very least, you will give other pro-lifers the confidence to do the same!